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HA    ttyJD  .FJb  ibyb 
Patterson,  Robert  M.  1832- 

1911. 
American  Presbyterianism  m 
its  development  and  growth 


,  ,,^^,^  ,  ,,         (*     MAR  15  1909 
AMERICAN        W    _^._. 

PRESBYTERIANISM 


IN   ITS 


DEVELOPMENT  AND  GROWTH 


BY  THE 

Rev.  ROBERT  M.  PATTERSON,  D.  D.,  LL.D. 

Author    of    "Paradise;"    "Visions  of   Heaven    for  the    Life   on 
Earth;"    "Elijah,  the   Favored   Man,"   etc. 


PHILADELPHIA 

PRESBYTERIAN    BOARD   OF   PUBLICATION 
AND  SABBATH-SCHOOL   WORK 

1S96 


Copyright,  1896,  by 

THE   TEUSTKKS   OP   THB 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION 
AND  SABBATH-SCHOOL  WORK. 


PREFATOEY  NOTE 


This  volume  gives  the  results  of  years'  patient 
reading  of  records,  collection  of  facts  and  figures, 
and  comparisons  of  periods  and  of  denominations. 
The  writer  cannot  here  mention  all  the  Church  his- 
tories and  historical  sketches  that  he  has  laid  under 
tribute.  He  may  say,  however,  that  all  the  pub- 
lished official  records  of  our  Church  from  the  be- 
ginning and  from  year  to  year,  and  the  National 
Census  reports  by  decades  from  the  beginning, 
have  been  minutely  studied.  Especially  has  the 
just-published  volume,  on  the  churches,  of  the 
census  of  1890,  been  largely  used.  That  volume 
is  a  wonderful  revelation. 

The  writer  hopes  that  he  has  made  a  little 
volume  that  will  be  a  thesaurus  for  permanent 
reference,  and  not  merely  a  pamphlet  for  present 
reading.  It  would  have  been  easier  to  make  it 
four  times  the  size :  his  desire  has  been,  by  con- 
densation, to  provide  a  vade  mecum  for  conve- 
nient use. 

It  should  be  noted  that  wherever  figures  are 
given  for  "  last  year,"  or  "  now,"  the  date  is  1895. 

R.  M.  P. 


CONTENTS. 


IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 
I. 

PAGE 

Its  Organic  Development 13 

Its  Beginning 14 

Under  the  General  Presbytery 15 

Under  the  Synod      17 

During  the  Schism 19 

Under  the  Keunited  Synods 19 

Synodical  Transformation 23 

Under  the  General  Assembly 25 

During  the  Division 28 

Since  the  Eeunion 29 

Reconstruction      31 

Enlargement  and  Consolidation 32 

II, 

Numerical  Progress 34 

Weakness  for  a  Century 34 

Present  Strength 37 

Strongest  Church  in  the  State 38 

All  the  Protestant  Churches 39 

The  Presbyterian  Family 39 


6  CONTENTS. 

Page 

The  Methodist  Family 40 

Proportionate  Presbyterian  Growth 41 

in. 

Philadelphia 45 

All  Denominations 45 

Presbyterian  the  Strongest  Now 46 

Eighteenth-century  Weakness 47 

This  Century's  Growth 47 

Churches 47 

Communicants      48 

Increase  of  Contributions 49 

A  Later  Decrease 51 

IV. 

Causes  of  the  Growth 53 

Adaptation  to  American  Society 53 

A  Failure 54 

The  Eldership 57 

Elasticity  of  the  System 58 

Development  of  the  Westminster  System 61 


IN  THE  NATION. 

I. 

Flickering  BEGmNiNGS 67 

Varied  National  Origins 67 

Isolated  Ministers  and  Congregations 68 

In  Virginia  and  Maryland 69 

New  York 69 

Long  Island 70 


CONTENTS,  7 

Page 

New  Jersey 70 

North  and  South  Carolina 70 

Huguenots 70 

Pennsylvania 71 

New  England 71 

Subjects  of  Persecution 71 

Contracted  Field  of  the  Presbytery 72 

Eighty  Organized  Years 73 

II. 

All  Denominations  in  the  U.  S 74 

National  Census  Keports  of  1890 74 

Congregations,   Communicants,   Edifices,   Accommoda- 
tions, and  Value 74 

The  Eight  Largest  Denominations  . 75 

The  Remainder 75 

Relative  Strength  of  the  Eight 76 

The  First  Four 77 

In  the  Largest  States 78 

Southern  Church  Accommodations 79 

Two  Peculiar  States 80 

III. 

The  Presbytebian  and  Reformed  Churches    ....  82 

The  Northern 83 

The  Cumberland 83 

The  Cumberland  (Colored) 84 

The  Southern 84 

The  Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodist 85 

The  United  Presbyterian  in  North  America 85 

The  Associate  Church  of  North  America 86 

The  Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  the  South     ....  86 

The  Reformed  Presbyterian  Synod  and  General  Synod  87 


8  CONTENTS. 

PAOB 

The  (Dutch)  Keformed  in  America 87 

The  (German)  Eeformed  in  the  U.  S 88 

The  Christian  Reformed 88 

IV. 

The  National,  Cumberland,  and  Southern 90 

Their  Titles 91 

The  National  (or  Northern)  Church 91 

The  Cumberland 91 

The  Southern 92 

The  Cumberland  (Colored) 92 

Their  National  Distribution 93 

Their  Combined  Strength 95 

In  Reports  of  1895 95 

The  Comparative  Summaries 96 

V. 

Numerical  Increase 98 

Synods  and  Presbyteries 98 

Ministers  and  Congregations .    .  99 

Fourscore  Years  Ago  and  Now 99 

During  the  Revolution 101 

Communicants 101 

Patriotism  of  Presbyterians 102 

Communicant  Growth 104 

Old  and  New  Schools 105 

Benevolent  Contributions 106 

Present  Missionary  Work 107 

Home  Missions 108 

Missions  for  Freedmen 109 

Foreign  Missions     110 

Missionary  Communicants Ill 

Women's  Societies 112 


CONTENTS.  9 

PAGE 

Congregational  Moneys 112 

Additions 112 

Infant  Baptisms 113 

Adult  Baptisms 113 

Sabbath-schools 114 

Colleges  and  Theological  Seminaries 114 

The  Statistical  Tables 114 

The  Century's  Additions  and  Contributions    .    .    .  115 

Kecent  Decrease  of  Contributions 116 

VI. 

Lessons  from  the  Comparisons 118 

Moral  and  Social  Development 118 

Educational 119 

Active  and  Benevolent  Work 120 

Relative  Numerical  Growth 121 

Two  Sister  Denominations 122 

Revivals  and  Culture 127 

Devotion  to  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty 128 

The  Divine  Message 131 


IN  PENNSYLVANIA 


AMERICAN    PRESBYTERIANISM. 


IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 

I. 

ITS  ORGANIC   DEVELOPMENT. 

It  is  proposed  in  the  first  part  of  this  little 
volume  to  exhibit  the  organic  and  numerical 
growth  of  Presbyterianism  in  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania. Much  of  the  history  of  American  Pres- 
byterianism has  been  made  within  the  bounds  of 
this  State.  The  first  Presbytery,  the  first  Synod, 
and  the  first  General  Assembly  were  organized  on 
its  soil.  The  supreme  judicatories  of  the  Church 
for  long  had  their  regular  annual  meetings  here. 
An  important  part  of  the  organized  strength  of 
the  Church  has  always  been  here.  The  popula- 
tion of  the  State  is  itself  a  good  type  of  the  well- 
established  and  settled  American  people,  as  the 
Church  in  it  is  of  the  fully-developed  Presbyterian 
Church.  The  study  of  it  will  therefore  be  a  study 
of  American  Presbyterianism  in  its  best  form,  and 

13 


14  AMERICAN  PRESBYTEBIANISM. 

will  organically  connect  itself  with  the  further 
study  of  the  whole  American  field,  in  the  second 
part  of  the  volume. 

Its  Beginning. 

William  Penn,  a  name  to  be  honored  to  the 
latest  generations  by  all  Christian  freemen,  and 
not  merely  by  the  "Society"  to  which  he  be- 
longed, brought  no  Presbyterians  with  him  when 
he  came  to  take  possession  of  the  colony,  nor  did 
he  find  any  here,  though  there  was  a  little  Dutch 
congregation  in  New  Castle,  Del.  There  were 
European  settlers  here  before  him.  The  Dutch 
had  explored  the  Delaware  in  1614 ;  the  Swedes 
had  erected  a  fort  in  1637 ;  the  English  under  a 
grant  of  Charles  II.  to  the  duke  of  York  had 
taken  possession  of  New  Castle  in  1664 ;  Chester, 
at  first  called  Upland,  had  been  the  seat  of  a 
court  as  far  back  as  1672,  at  least ;  some  Welsh 
had  settled  here  in  1682,  the  year  of  Penn's  ar- 
rival. But,  as  far  as  we  know,  there  were  no  Pres- 
byterian settlers  among  the  pre-Pennites ;  and  the 
hundred  colonists  who  were  in  the  "  Welcome " 
with  Penn  were  mostly  Friends. 

The  Friends,  the  Episcopalians,  and  the  Bap- 
tists had  taken  possession  of  this  field  before  our 
ecclesiastical  ancestors  appeared  upon  it. 

The  first  fact,  and  that  only  an  obscure  hint,  in 


ITS  ORGANIC  DEVELOPMENT.  15 

Pennsylvania  Presbyterianism  does  not  appear 
until  1692,  eight  years  after  the  founding  of  the 
colony.  Nor  has  Pennsylvania  within  its  limits 
the  first  Presbyterian  Church  that  was  organized 
in  these  United  States  of  America. 

An  early  Baptist  sketch  says  that  "  upon  the  re- 
quest of  the  Baptists  and  Presbyterians  "  in  April, 
1695,  "the  Rev.  John  Watts  of  Pennipack  con- 
sented to  preach  at  Philadelphia  every  other  Sun- 
day, and  continued  thus  to  officiate  until  1698. 
Whenever  there  were  Presbyterian  ministers  in 
town  they  officiated,  and  for  three  years  the  mem- 
bers of  the  two  sects  got  along  amicably." 

In  1698  the  Rev.  Jedediah  Andrews  began  to 
preach  regularly  in  Philadelphia.  He  was  not,  as 
has  been  generally  supposed,  the  first  Presbyterian 
preacher  who  settled  in  the  city.  The  Rev.  John 
Woodbridge  came  here  from  New  England  the 
same  year,  in  advance  of  Andrews,  but  for  some 
reason  did  not  remain.  Mr.  Andrews  settled,  and 
in  1701  was  ordained,  and  the  First  Church  was 
organized  with  him  as  pastor. 

Under  the  General  Presbytery. 

Five  years  thereafter,  in  1706,  the  first  or  Gen- 
eral Presbytery  was  formed.  In  the  fragment  of 
the  records  which  has  been  preserved  are  the 
names  of  three  ministers,  and  another  was  or- 


16  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

dained  during  its  sessions ;  but  that  list,  combined 
with  the  one  in  the  minutes  of  1707,  shows  that 
seven  ministers  were  in  the  organization  and  com- 
posed the  full  ministerial  strength  of  the  denomi- 
nation when  the  General  Presbytery  first  appears 
upon  the  page  of  history.  In  the  light  of  the  fail- 
ure that  afterward  prevailed,  it  is  pleasant  to  note 
that  in  that  meeting  of  1707  the  number  of  min- 
isters and  the  number  of  ruling  elders  in  attend- 
ance were  equal — four  of  each. 

In  that  Presbyterial  organization  one  minister 
and  one  church  were  all  that  were  located  in 
Pennsylvania. 

In  1710  the  nucleus  of  a  second  congregation, 
in  the  Great  or  Chester  Valley,  now  the  Great 
Valley  Church,  appears  upon  the  records;  and 
the  Rev.  Apollos  Van  Vleck  joined  the  Presbytery 
with  the  Low  Dutch  congregation  of  Neshaminy, 
Bucks  county.  The  same  year  a  letter  to  the 
Presbytery  of  Dublin  speaks  of  five  congregations 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  another  letter  to  the  Synod 
of  Glasgow  says  there  were  ten  ministers  in  all  in 
the  Presbytery,  five  of  them  in  Pennsylvania. 
Pennsylvania,  however,  then  included  what  is 
now  the  State  of  Delaware,  in  the  territorv  of 
which  were  the  Red  Clay  Creek,  Lower  Brandy- 
wine,  White  Clay  Creek,  and  Head  of  Christiana 
churches,  and  the  Welsh  Tract.     What  is  now 


ITS  ORGANIC  DEVELOPMENT.  17 

Pennsylvania  had  Mr.  Andrews  and  Mr.  Van 
Vleck,  with  the  First  Philadelphia,  the  Great 
Valley,  to  which  the  unlicensed  David  Evans 
had  been  preaching,  and  Neshaminy  churches. 

In  1714  the  church  at  Abington,  which  had 
been  organized  as  a  Congregational  church,  was 
added  to  the  number,  with  the  Rev.  Malachi  Jones 
as  its  pastor. 

Under  the  Synod. 

In  1716  the  number  of  ministers  in  the  Presby- 
tery was  seventeen,  and, "  it  having  pleased  Divine 
Providence  so  to  increase  our  number,"  it  was  after 
much  deliberation  judged  to  be  more  serviceable 
to  the  interest  of  religion  to  divide  into  subordi- 
nate meetings  or  Presbyteries,  constituting  one 
annually  as  a  Synod. 

The  subordinate  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  which 
was  one  of  the  three  thus  constituted,  and  which 
first  met  in  1717,  consisted  of  six  ministers,  of 
whom  only  two  (Messrs.  Andrews  and  Jones)  were 
in  Pennsylvania.  The  churches  in  the  State  were 
the  First  Philadelphia,  Great  Valley,  Abington, 
and  Neshaminy. 

This  Presbytery,  it  should  be  observed,  was  not 
limited  to  Pennsylvania :  it  covered  also  New  Jer- 
sey, and  one  of  its  members  was  in  Maryland. 
Of  its  associated  Presbyteries,  New  Castle  was  in 

2 


18  AMERICAN  PRESS  YTERIANISM. 

the  State  of  Delaware,  and  Snow  Hill,  which  was, 
however,  never  organized,  in  Maryland.  (A  Pres- 
bytery of  Long  Island  was  formed  of  two  minis- 
ters who  were  laboring  on  Long  Island,  with  neigh- 
boring brethren.) 

Thus  far,  the  churches  and  ministers  in  the 
colony  closely  hugged  the  river  Delaware.  But 
in  1732  the  Presbytery  of  "  Dunagall "  was  erected 
in  Lancaster  county,  with  five  ministers,  a  num- 
ber which  by  1739  had  increased  to  eleven. 

In  the  last-named  year  the  Presbytery  of  New 
Castle  had  extended  itself  up  into  Pennsylvania, 
having  upon  its  list  Francis  Allison,  in  the  New 
London  Church,  and  Robert  Cathcart,  supplying 
Middletown  in  Delaware  county,  in  connection 
with  Brandywine,  Kent,  and  Lewes  in  the  State  of 
Delaware :  two  ministers,  therefore,  in  this  State. 

Philadelphia  Presbytery  had  then  live  minis- 
ters in  the  State — Andrews;  Robert  Cross,  who 
had  been  called  in  1734  as  assistant  to  Mr.  An- 
drews ;  William  Tennant,  who  in  1721  took  charge 
of  Bensalem  and  Smithfield  in  Bucks  county,  and 
was  called  to  Neshaminy  in  1726 ;  David  Evans, 
who  in  the  Chester  Valley  supplied  also  Sadsbury, 
West  Branch  of  Brandywine,  and  Conestoga;  and 
Richard  Treat,  at  Abington. 

The  three  Presbyteries  had  thus,  toward  the 
middle  of  the  last  century  and  after  a  third  of  a 


ITS  ORGANIC  DEVELOPMENT,  19 

century's    Presbyterial    existence,   only   eighteen 
ministers  in  Pennsylvania. 

During  the  Schism. 

The  Old  and  New  Side  controversy  had  then 
begun  to  distract  the  Church.  The  Old  Side  made 
orthodoxy  their  shibboleth ;  insisted  more  on  in- 
tellectual qualifications  and  high  education  in  the 
ministry ;  were  stricter  in  Presbyterial  order :  the 
New  Side  placed  more  stress  on  experimental  re- 
ligion, vital  piety  in  the  ministry,  and  were  more 
tolerant  of  departures  from  ecclesiastical  strictness. 
At  the  root  both  were  right ;  in  practical  conduct 
and  mutual  intercourse  both  were  wrong.  The 
Church  has  long  accepted  the  essential  points  for 
which  each  contended.  But  the  dissensions  di- 
vided the  denomination  for  a  time ;  and  on  the 
division,  in  1745,  Philadelphia,  Donegal,  and  a 
part  of  New  Castle  Presbytery  remained  in  the 
Synod  of  Philadelphia,  the  Old  Side  organization. 

The  division  was  an  unhappy  one  for  the 
Church.  Growth  was  slow  during  it.  It  scarcely 
occurred  before  healing  efforts  began,  and  in  1758 
reunion  was  effected. 

Reunited. 

Some  of  the  questions  which  led  to  the  Old  and 
New  Side  division,  however,  unhappily  remained. 


20  AMERICAN  PRESS  YTERIANISM. 

In  1762,  "  in  compliance  with  a  request  from  some 
members  of  Philadelphia  Presbytery,  the  Synod 
appointed  that  the  members  of  that  Presbytery  be 
erected  into  two  Presbyteries  for  one  year  at  least, 
and  that  the  new  Presbytery  be  called  by  the 
name  of  the  Second  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia ; 
and  that  Messrs.  Robert  Cross,  Francis  Allison, 
John  Ewing,  John  Simonton,  and  James  Latta  be 
members  thereof."  This  was  an  elective-affinity 
movement.  Strange  to  us  now,  the  Second  Phila- 
delphia men  denied  the  right  of  Presbyteries  "  to 
inquire  into  candidates'  experimental  acquaint- 
ance with  religion  as  a  scriptural  and  rational 
means  of  obtaining  satisfaction  as  to  their  quali- 
fication for  preaching  the  gospel."  The  Synod 
held  the  other  view,  but  organized  those  brethren 
into  a  Presbytery  for  the  relief  of  their  con- 
sciences. The  act  produced  dissatisfaction.  In 
1766  the  Synod  refused  to  reunite  the  two  Pres- 
byteries— a  refusal  which  was  strongly  protested 
against  as  of  schismatical  tendency. 

In  1765,  on  a  petition  from  the  Presbytery, 
against  which,  however,  an  appeal  also  came  from 
some  of  its  members,  the  members  of  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Donegal  who  lived  on  the  western  side 
of  the  river  Susquehanna  were  erected  into  the 
Presbytery  of  Carlisle,  the  first  meeting  of  which 
was  appointed  to  be  held  in  Philadelphia  on  the 


ITS  ORGANIC  DEVELOPMENT.  21 

23d  of  May  (the  day  of  the  action),  and  the  re- 
maining members  were  annexed  to  the  Presbytery 
of  New  Castle,  the  name  of  which  was  changed 
to  Lancaster,  and  which  was  directed  to  meet  on 
the  25th  of  May,  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at 
the  First  Church  in  Philadelphia.  Seven  of  the 
members  of  the  Donegal  Presbytery  protested 
against  this,  complaining  that  "their  right  as 
members  was  infringed  in  erecting  a  new  Pres- 
bytery out  of  Donegal  Presbytery,  and  annexing 
the  remaining  members  to  another  Presbytery, 
without  consulting  said  Presbytery  or  allowing 
them  to  vote  in  that  affair."  This,  too,  was  an 
effect  of  the  old  divisive  leaven. 

In  1767  the  Donegal  Presbytery  was  restored, 
but  a  number  of  its  members  refused  to  yield  and 
formed  a  separate  Presbytery.  The  controversy 
continued  for  years. 

In  1769  the  Synod  cast  its  missionary  eye  be- 
yond the  Alleghenies  and  directed  the  Donegal 
Presbytery  "  to  supply  the  western  frontier  of  this 
province  ten  Sabbaths."  The  Scotch-Irish  Pres- 
byterian immigration,  which  has  been  such  a  con- 
trolling element  in  State  and  Church,  had  been 
rolling  over  our  broad  acres.  In  1771  the  Synod 
granted  the  Presbytery  for  its  missionary  purposes 
fifteen  pounds,  requiring  it  "to  husband  the 
money  and  improve  it  to  the  best  advantage." 


22  AMERICAN  rRESBYTERIANISM. 

Ten  years  later,  in  1781,  the  Presbytery  of  Red- 
stone, the  mother  Presbytery  of  the  West,  was 
formed,  consisting  of  Joseph  Smith  of  New  Castle, 
John  McMillan  of  Donegal,  James  Powers,  and 
Thaddeus  Dodd.  The  first  meeting  was  appointed 
to  be  held  at  Laurel  Hill  Church  the  third  Wednes- 
day of  September,  though  an  incursion  of  savages 
prevented  the  meeting  there  and  caused  it  to  be 
held  at  Pigeon  Creek.  That  was  the  beginning 
of  Western  Pennsylvania  Presbyterianism.  Red- 
stone, still  on  the  list,  became  the  mother  of  a 
noble  set  of  Presbyteries.  When  organized,  said 
Prof.  Wilson,  ''  it  occupied  the  picket-line  of  Pres- 
byterianism on  this  continent ;  a  vanguard  thrown 
across  the  Alleghenies  to  secure  outposts  and  to 
lead  the  advancing  columns  of  the  sacramental 
host,  through  hardships  and  perils,  to  take  posses- 
sion in  the  name  of  the  Lord."  It  started  as  a 
purely  missionary  Presbytery,  unbounded,  too,  in 
its  formation  limits. 

At  that  time,  a  little  over  a  century  ago,  after 
an  organic  existence  of  eighty  years,  there  were  in 
the  bounds  of  Pennsylvania  only  five,  or  rather 
parts  of  five,  Presbyteries— Philadelphia,  Philadel- 
phia Second,  New  Castle,  Donegal,  Redstone.  And 
yet  the  size  of  the  denomination  and  its  prospec- 
tive growth,  and  the  difficulty  of  attendance  on 
the  meetings  of  the  Synod,  had  then  started  the 


ITS  ORGANIC  DEVELOPMENT.  23 

movement  which  resulted  in  the  transformation 
of  that  Synod  into  the  General  Assembly. 

The  following  resolution,  passed  in  1781,  is  sig- 
nificant: "Whereas,  the  Synod  is  deeply  affected 
that  the  judicatories  of  the  Church  are  so  exceed- 
ingly neglected,  both  by  ministers  and  elders, 
especially  the  latter,  and  taking  this  matter  into 
serious  consideration,  and  apprehending  that  one 
reason  of  this  non-attendance,  particularly  on  the 
sessions  of  Synod,  arises  from  congregations  mak- 
ing no  provision  for  defraying  the  expenses  of 
ministers  and  elders,  do  therefore  request  the 
Presbyteries  to  direct  their  members  to  recom- 
mend it  to  their  respective  congregations  to  make 
contributions  for  this  purpose ;  and  the  Synod  do 
further  request  that  the  Presbyteries  take  every 
proper  measure  to  excite  their  members  to  attend 
upon  this  judicatory."  There  were  only  twenty 
ministers  and  four  elders  present  that  year. 

Synodical  Transformation. 

In  1785  "  an  overture  was  brought  in  that  for 
the  better  management  of  the  churches  under  our 
care  this  Synod  be  divided  into  three  Synods,  and 
that  a  General  Synod  or  Assembly  be  constituted 
out  of  the  whole." 

In  1786,  as  a  part  of  the  scheme  for  this,  Done- 
gal Presbytery  was  divided  into  the  Presbyteries  of 


24  AMERICAN  PRESBYTEBIANISM. 

Baltimore  and  Carlisle,  the  latter  becoming  the 
successor  of  Donegal,  which  then  ceased  to  exist, 
though  a  Presbytery  of  the  same  name  was  re- 
vived in  this  century  in  the  Old  School  branch 
of  the  Church.  The  two  Philadelphia  Presbyteries 
were  also  united.  Then  it  was  proposed  to  divide 
the  General  Synod  "into  four  distinct  Synods, 
subordinated  to  a  General  Assembly  to  be  consti- 
tuted out  of  the  whole,"  the  Synods  to  be  called 
New  York  and  New  Jersey,  Philadelphia,  Virginia, 
South  Carolina — Philadelphia  Synod  to  consist 
of  the  Presbyteries  of  Philadelphia,  Lewestown, 
New  Castle,  Baltimore,  and  Carlisle.  None  of 
these  Presbyteries  composing  the  Synod  of  Phila- 
delphia were  limited  to  the  State  of  Pennsylvania: 
Philadelphia  extended  into  New  Jersey ;  New  Cas- 
tle into  Delaware ;  Carlisle  into  Maryland ;  and 
Lewestown  and  Baltimore  were  entirely  out  of 
Pennsylvania.  Redstone  was  set  off  into  the 
Synod  of  Virginia,  with  the  Presbyteries  of  Han- 
over, Lexington,  and  Transylvania. 

The  part  of  the  new  plan  which  concerned  the 
arrangement  of  Presbyteries  was  agreed  to  in 
1786 ;  the  rest  was  deferred  to  the  next  year. 

Concurrent  with  these  changes  went  on  the 
perfecting  and  adoption  of  the  Standards  of  the 
Church,  substantially  as  we  still  have  them  as 
our  Constitution. 


ITS  ORGANIC  DEVELOPMENT.  25 

Under  the  General  Assembly. 

The  division  into  four  Synods  was  consum- 
mated in  1788.  The  first  meeting  of  the  General 
Assembly  was  held  on  the  third  Thursday  of  May, 

1789,  in  the  Second  Church,  Philadelphia;  that 
of  the  Synod  of  Philadelphia  on  the  third  Thurs- 
day of  October,  1788,  in  the  First  Church,  Phila- 
delphia; and  that  of  the  Synod  of  Virginia,  to 
which  Redstone  belonged,  on  the  fourth  Wednes- 
day of  October,  1788. 

There  were  present  at  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Assembly  only  twenty-one  ministers  and  ten 
elders,  ten  of  the  ministers  and  eight  of  the  elders 
being  from  the  Pennsylvania  Presbyteries. 

The  strength  of  the  denomination  in  the  whole 
country,  as  gathered  from  statistics  published  in 

1790,  was  177  ministers,  11  probationers,  215  con- 
gregations supplied  with  ministers,  204  vacant 
congregations,  not  counting  Transylvania  Pres- 
bytery— in  all,  188  preachers  and  419  congrega- 
tions, many  of  which  were  hardly  more  than  a 
name.  Of  these,  the  Pennsylvania  Presbyteries 
reported  63  ministers,  2  probationers,  and  135 
congregations,  51  of  them  vacant. 

The  larger  part  of  those  Presbyteries  were  in 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania — Philadelphia  taking 
in  the  eastern  section,  now  occupied  by  Philadel- 


26  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

phia,  Philadelphia  North,  Lehigh,  Lackawanna ; 
New  Castle  extending  into  what  are  now  Chester 
and  Westminster ;  Carlisle  embracing  the  field  of 
the  present  Carlisle,  Northumberland,  and  Hunt- 
ingdon; Redstone  covering  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania. As  far  as  can  be  made  out,  47  of  the  63 
ministers  who  were  in  the  Synod  were  in  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania. 

In  1792  the  river  Potomac  was  declared  the 
boundary-line  betw^een  the  Synods  of  Philadelphia 
and  Virginia,  except  that  Alexandria,  Va.,  was 
included  in  the  former. 

The  denominational  growth  in  the  western  part 
of  the  State  was  shown,  and  Redstone  made  its 
first  colonization  by  the  formation  in  1793  out  of 
that  Presbytery  of  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio. 

The  Presbytery  of  Huntingdon  was  erected  out 
of  Carlisle  in  1794,  on  an  overture  from  the  Syn- 
od of  Philadelphia.  This  set  off  nine  ministers 
in  the  new  Presbytery  and  left  sixteen  in  the  old. 
These  figures  are  mentioned  because,  as  contrasted 
with  the  size  of  those  Presbyteries  now,  they  show 
the  day  of  small  things,  and  show,  too,  that  the 
policy,  the  healthy  policy,  of  the  Church  has  been 
to  multiply  small  Presbyteries  for  efficient  work. 

The  same  year  (1794),  although  the  Synod  con- 
tained only  71  ministers  and  86  churches,  of 
which  31  were  vacant,  an  attempt  was  made  to 


ITS  ORGANIC  DEVELOPMENT.  27 

divide  it.  Doubtless  the  difficulties  and  expense 
of  travel  over  such  a  large  field  with  the  facilities 
then  had,  in  connection  with  the  small  attendance, 
led  to  the  attempt.  For  in  1796  the  body  failed  to 
meet  at  Yorktown,  to  which  it  had  been  adjourned, 
only  one  minister  being  present  from  Philadelphia 
Presbytery,  one  minister  and  one  elder  from  New 
Castle,  two  ministers  and  an  elder  from  Baltimore, 
and  thirteen  ministers  and  three  elders  from  Car- 
lisle, in  whose  bounds  was  the  meeting-place.  For 
the  same  reason  the  Assembly  was  then  asked, 
though  not  successfully,  to  meet  only  triennially. 

In  1802  the  churches  north  and  north-west  of 
the  Allegheny  and  Ohio  rivers,  west  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania line,  which  were  reported  as  belonging 
to  the  Presbyteries  of  Redstone  and  Ohio,  were 
erected  into  the  Presbytery  of  Erie.  This  shows 
that  a  part  of  Redstone  was  then  in  Ohio,  and 
that  the  Presbytery  of  Erie  was  an  Ohio  organiza- 
tion, the  Ohio  Presbytery  being  largely  in  Penn- 
sylvania— an  instance  of  confusion  of  geographical 
names  that  widely  prevailed  until  the  reunion  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago. 

The  Synod  of  Pittsburg  was  formed  in  the  same 
year  by  the  division  of  the  Synod  of  Virginia,  and 
it  was  constituted  of  the  Presbyteries  of  Redstone, 
Ohio,  and  Erie.  It  held  its  first  meeting  in  Pitts- 
burg the  last  Wednesday  of  September.     The  first 


28  AMERICAN  PRESS  YTERIANISM. 

report  of  that  Synod,  which  was  largely  in  this 
State,  made  in  1803,  showed  36  ministers  and  47 
vacant  churches,  in  addition  to  those  served  by 
ministers.  The  same  year  the  Synod  of  Phila- 
delphia had  80  ministers  and  54  vacant  congrega- 
tions, in  addition  to  the  pastoral  charges. 

In  1810  we  have  for  the  first  time  a  report  of 
the  number  of  communicants  in  the  Presbyteries. 
The  Pennsylvania  Presbyteries  had  then  8368,  a 
part  of  whom  were  outside  the  State.  The  popula- 
tion of  the  State  was  then  810,091. 

The  Presbytery  of  Northumberland  was  formed 
out  of  Huntingdon  in  1811  with  5  ministers,  10 
churches,  and  947  communicants,  leaving  Hunt- 
ingdon with  9  ministers,  25  churches,  and  928 
communicants. 

Washington  Presbytery  was  formed  in  1819  out 
of  Ohio  Presbytery  with  10  ministers,  18  churches, 
and  1553  communicants,  leaving  Ohio  with  11  min- 
isters, 10  churches,  and  1308  communicants. 

The  Presbytery  of  Allegheny  was  formed  in 
1820,  and  in  1823  it  had  8  ministers,  21  churches, 
and  717  communicants.  It  of  course  belonged  to 
Pittsburg  Synod. 

During  the  Division. 
A  second  Second  Philadelphia  Presbytery  was 
formed  in  1832.    This  was  an  elective-affinity 


ITS  ORGANIC  DEVELOPMENT.  29 

Presbytery,  and  its  formation  was  one  of  the  acts 
in  the  movement  which  led  to  the  Old  and  New 
School  division. 

It  does  not  fall  within  the  scope  of  this  sketch 
to  reopen  that,  or  to  follow  the  Presbyterial  and 
Synodical  changes  which  marked  the  two  branches 
during  the  division.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  in 
1834,  on  the  threshold  of  the  division,  Pennsyl- 
vania embraced  parts  of  the  Synods  of  New  Jersey, 
Philadelphia,  Delaware,  and  Pittsburg,  and  of  the 
Presbyteries  of  Newton,  Susquehanna,  Montrose, 
Philadelphia,  Philadelphia  Second  (Synodical), 
New  Castle,  Carlisle,  Huntingdon,  Northumber- 
land, Philadelphia  Second,  Allegheny,  Beaver, 
Redstone,  Washington,  Blairsville,  and  Ohio; 
and  those  Presbyteries  contained  238  ministers, 
853  churches,  and  42,477  communicants,  the  larger 
portion,  though  by  no  means  the  whole,  of  which 
were  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania. 

Since  the  Reunion. 

On  our  happy  reunion  in  1870  there  were  in 
whole  or  in  part  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  the 
0.  S.  Synods  of  Allegheny,  Baltimore,  New  Jersey, 
Philadelphia,  Pittsburg,  Wheeling,  and  the  N.  S. 
Synods  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  West  Pennsylvania. 

The  Synod  of  Allegheny  contained  the  Presby- 


30  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM, 

teries  of  Allegheny,  Allegheny  City,  Beaver,  Erie, 
and  Pittsburg." 

The  Synod  of  Baltimore,  with  two  other  Pres- 
byteries outside  of  the  State,  had  Carlisle,  which 
was  almost  altogether  in  the  State. 

The  Presbytery  of  Montrose,  wholly  in  this 
State,  was  in  the  Synod  of  New  York  and  New 
Jersey. 

The  Presbyteries  of  Luzerne,  altogether  in  this 
State,  and  Newton,  with  three  churches  in  the 
State,  were  in  the  Synod  of  New  Jersey. 

The  Synod  of  Pennsylvania  had  the  Presby- 
teries of  Harrisburg,  Philadelphia  Third,  Phila- 
delphia Fourth  (with  a  few  churches  in  New 
Jersey). 

The  Synod  of  Philadelphia  had  the  Presbyteries 
of  Donegal,  Huntingdon,  New  Castle  (with  a  few 
churches  in  Delaware),  Northumberland,  Phila- 
delphia (with  one  church  in  New  Jersey),  Phila- 
delphia Central,  Philadelphia  Second. 

The  Synod  of  Pittsburg  had  the  Presbyteries 
of  Blairsville,  Clarion,  Ohio,  Redstone,  Saltsburg. 

The  Synod  of  West  Pennsylvania  had  the  Pres- 
byteries of  Erie,  Meadville,  and  Pittsburg. 

The  Synod  of  Wheeling  had  the  Presbyteries 
of  Washington,  partly  in  Pennsylvania,  partly  in 
West  Virginia,  and  the  Presbytery  of  West  Vir- 
ginia, wholly  in  the  lately-erected  State. 


ITS  ORGANIC  DEVELOPMENT.  31 

Reconstruction. 

By  the  reunion  Assembly  of  1870  these  Old 
and  New  School  Synods  and  Presbyteries  were 
reconstructed  into  four  Synods,  as  follows :  Phila- 
delphia, embracing  the  Presbyteries  and  parts  of 
Presbyteries  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  with  the 
missionary  Presbytery  of  Western  Africa ;  Harris- 
burg,  the  central  counties  of  Pennsylvania ;  Erie, 
the  north-western  counties  of  Pennsylvania ;  Pitts- 
burg, South-western  Pennsylvania,  with  West  Vir- 
ginia west  of  the  Allegheny  Ridge. 

These  Synods  met — Philadelphia,  on  June  21st, 
1870,  in  the  Spring  Garden  Church,  Philadelphia ; 
Harrisburg,  June  28th,  1870,  in  the  First  Church  of 
Bellefonte;  Erie,  July  7th,  1870,  in  the  Park  Church, 
Erie ;  Pittsburg,  June  23d,  1870,  in  the  First  Church 
of  Pittsburg — and  reconstructed  the  Presbyte- 
ries and  parts  of  Presbyteries  which  lay  within 
their  bounds.  The  Synod  of  Philadelphia,  also  at 
once  wiped  out  the  old  dividing  lines,  reconstructed 
the  Presbyteries  of  the  two  "Schools,"  and  con- 
stituted the  Presbyteries  of  Chester,  Lackawanna, 
Lehigh,  Philadelphia,  Philadelphia  Central,  Phila- 
delphia North,  Westminister,  and  Western  Africa ; 
Harrisburg,  the  Presbyteries  of  Carlisle,  Hunting- 
don, Northumberland,  and  Wellsboro;  Erie,  the 
Presbyteries  of  Allegheny,   Butler,   Clarion,  Erie, 


32  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Kittanning,  Shenango ;  Pittsburg^  the  Presbyteries 
of  Blairsville,  Pittsburg,  Redstone,  Washington, 
and  West  Virginia. 

The  first  report  made  by  these  reconstructed 
State  Synods  in  1871  exhibited  the  following 
figures : 

Minis-  Commu-        S.-S.  mem- 

ters.  Churches,     ^icants.  bers, 

Erie 146  209  25,102  18,877 

Harrisburg     ....  133  159  17,238  15,493 

Philadelphia      ...  300  261  40,210  49,360 

Pittsburg 138  164  21,852  19,238 


717  793  104,402  103,048; 

of  which  there  were  in  West  Virginia  21  ministers, 
44  churches,  4144  communicants,  and  3485  Sab- 
bath-school members;  and  in  Western  Africa  6 
ministers,  6  churches,  246  communicants,  and  198 
Sabbath-school  members — leaving  in  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania  690  ministers,  743  churches,  100,012 
communicants,  and  99,305  Sabbath-school  mem- 
bers. 

Enlargement  and  Consolidation. 

In  1881  (the  act  going  into  effect  on  January 
1st,  1882),  as  a  part  of  a  national  act  by  which  the 
General  Assembly  reduced  the  number  of  the 
Synods  and  enlarged  their  size  and  powers,  mak- 
ing them  Provincial  Assemblies,  coterminous  as 
far  as  possible  with  State  lines,  the  four  Synods 


ITS  ORGANIC  DEVELOPMENT.  33 

were  consolidated  into  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  statistics  for  which  then  were  870  ministers, 
929  churches,  132,251  communicants,  and  148,176 
Sabbath-school  members. 

The  last  reports  of  the  four  Synods,  before  their 
consolidation,  gave  the  following  figures: 

Minis-  Commu-        S.-S.  mem- 

ters.  Churches.    Scants.  bers. 

Erie 181  252  30,860  29,622 

Harrisburg     ....  154  176  21,910  22,120 

Philadelphia      ...  372  301  52,050  67,495 

Pittsburg 168  193  26,414  25,666 

The  first  meeting  of  the  large  Provincial  Synod 
was  held  in  Harrisburg  on  the  third  Thursday 
of  Oct.,  1882.  It  then  adopted  and  submitted  to 
its  Presbyteries  a  plan  of  delegation,  which  was 
reported  at  the  next  meeting  in  Pittsburg  as  ap- 
proved by  a  majority  of  the  Presbyteries,  and 
under  that  plan  the  Synod  met  in  1884  as  a  dele- 
gated Synod.  Its  undelegated  membership  would 
have  been  4604.  The  delegation  made  the  mem- 
bership about  225 — a  minister  and  elder  for  every 
sixteen  ministers  and  congregations  combined. 

3 


II. 

ITS  NUMERICAL  GROWTH. 

Such  is  a  brief,  skeleton  sketch  of  the  organic 
Presbyterial  and  Synodical  history  of  our  Presby- 
terian Church  in  Pennsylvania. 

Now  let  the  remarkable  progress  of  Presbyte- 
rianism  in  its  bounds  be  noted. 

Weakness  for  a  Century. 

The  Church  began  here  and  struggled  along 
for  nearly  the  first  century  of  its  existence  under 
great  difficulties.  As  has  been  said,  the  Society  of 
Friends  and  the  Episcopal  and  Baptist  churches 
had  at  the  outset  the  vantage-ground. 

In  1702  a  missionary  of  the  English  "  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign 
Parts "  wrote :  "  The  Presbyterians  here  come  a 
great  way  to  lay  hands  on  one  another ;  but,  after 
all,  I  think  they  had  as  good  stay  at  home,  for  all 
the  good  they  do.  In  Philadelphia  one  pretends 
to  be  a  Presb^^terian,  and  has  a  congregation  to 
which  he  preaches."  And  in  the  following  year 
another  missionary  of  the  same  society  journalized 
in  this  city  a  fact  and  a  prediction :  "  They  have 

34 


THE  NUMERICAL  GROWTH.  85 

here  a  Presbyterian  meeting-house  and  minister, 
one  called  Andrews;  but  they  are  not  like  to  in- 
crease here" 

The  Presbytery  itself,  in  appealing  to  a  friend 
in  London  for  pecuniary  help  in  1709,  said :  "  If 
the  sum  of  about  two  hundred  pounds  per  annum 
were  raised  for  the  encouragement  of  ministers  in 
these  parts,  it  would  enable  ministers  and  people 
to  erect  eight  congregations,  and  ourselves  put  in 
better  circumstances  than  hitherto  we  have  been. 
"We  are  at  present  seven  ministers,  most  of  whose 
outward  affairs  are  so  straitened  as  to  crave  relief, 
unto  which  if  two  or  three  more  were  added  it 
would  greatly  strengthen  our  influence,  which 
does  miserably  suffer  as  things  at  present  are 
among  us.  .  .  .  It  is  well  known  what  advantages 
the  missionaries  from  England  have  of  us,  from 
the  settled  fund  of  their  Church,  which  not  only 
liberally  supports  them  here,  but  encourages  so 
many  insolences,  both  against  our  persons  and  in- 
terests, which  sorrowfully  looking  on  we  cannot 
but  lament  and  crave  your  remedy.  .  .  .  We  most 
earnestly  beseech  you,  in  the  bowels  of  our  Lord, 
to  intercede  with  the  ministers  of  London  and 
other  well-affected  gentlemen  to  extend  their 
charity  and  pity  to  us,  to  carry  on  so  necessary 
and  glorious  a  work." 

In  a  similar  vein,  and  even  more  distressingly, 


36  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

the  same  Presbytery  wrote  the  next  year  to  the 
Presbytery  of  Dublin  and  to  the  Synod  of 
Glasgow. 

Fourscore  years  later,  in  1784,  Arthur  Lee,  a 
"  high-toned  Virginian,"  wrote  of  Pittsburg  "  that 
it  was  inhabited  almost  entirely  by  the  Scots  and 
the  Irish,  who  live  in  paltry  log-houses  and  are  as 
dirty  as  in  the  North  of  Ireland  or  even  Scotland. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  small  trade  carried  on. 
There  are  in  the  town  four  attorneys  and  two 
doctors,  and  not  a  priest  of  any  persuasion,  nor 
church,  nor  chapel,  so  that  they  are  likely  to  be 
damned  without  the  benefit  of  clergy."  And  a  godly 
Presbyterian  who  moved  thither  from  Carlisle  in 
1783  wrote :  "  When  I  first  came  here  I  found  the 
place  filled  with  old  officers  and  soldiers,  followers 
of  the  army,  mixed  with  a  few  families  of  credit. 
All  sorts  of  wickedness  were  carried  on  to  excess, 
and  there  was  no  appearance  of  morality  or  regu- 
lar order.  As  I  have  already  remarked,  when  I 
first  came  to  this  town  there  appeared  to  be  no 
signs  of  religion  among  the  people,  and  it  seemed 
to  me  that  the  Presbyterian  ministers  were  afraid 
to  come  to  the  place  lest  they  should  be  mocked 
or  mistreated." 

But  just  then  (in  1784),  on  application,  Redstone 
Presbytery  began  to  send  supplies  to  the  Iron  City, 
and  the  First  Church  came  into  existence. 


THE  NUMERICAL   GROWTH.  37 

Present  Strength. 

And  now,  behold,  what  God  hath  wrought! 
That  despised  minister  and  congregation  in  the 
city  of  Penn,  sweeping  across  the  Alleghenies  and 
taking  in  the  "  dirty  "  (as  the  dainty  Arthur  Lee 
described  them)  Scotch  and  Irish  of  Pittsburg, 
have  grown  into  the  Synod  of  Pennsylvania,  which 
represents  1214  preachers  of  the  gospel  (1071  min- 
isters, 93  licentiates,  and  50  local  evangelists),  239 
candidates  for  the  ministry,  1184  churches  with 
4582  ruling  elders,  197,491  communicants,  and 
207,228  Sabbath-school  members.  During  last 
year  there  were  added  to  their  communicant  rolls 
on  profession  of  faith  13,327  new  members.  And 
they  raised  $3,050,116,  of  which  $2,195,351  were  for 
the  various  organic  purposes  of  congregations, 
$217,303  for  miscellaneous  charitable  causes, 
$358,172  for  the  various  Home  Missionary  Boards 
of  the  denomination,  and  $178,584  for  Foreign 
Missions. 

It  should  be  stated  that  in  the  Synod  are  in- 
cluded the  Presbytery  of  Parkersburg,  which 
covers  the  State  of  West  Virginia,  and  also  the 
missionary  Presbyteries  of  the  City  of  Mexico, 
Zacatecas,  and  Western  Africa.  In  these  Presby- 
teries outside  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  are  116 
preachers  (74  ordained  ministers,  21  licentiates, 


38  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

21  local  evangelists),  124  churches,  6524  communi- 
cants, and  5412  Sabbath-school  members ;  leaving 
in  Pennsylvania,  1095  preachers  (997  ordained 
ministers,  73  licentiates,  21  local  evangelists),  1060 
churches,  190,967  communicants,  and  201,816 
Sabbath-school  members.  That  was  the  numeri- 
cal strength  last  year  (1895)  of  the  one  commonly 
called  the  Northern  branch  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  Keystone  State.  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, the  whole  Presbyterian  strength  of  the  State, 
and  the  other  branches  are  gladly  included  in  the 
statement  of  that,  and  reveal  the  following  facts: 

Strongest  Church  in  the  State. 

Of  all  the  religious  denominations,  the  Presby- 
terian, including  its  various  branches,  has  become 
in  Pennsylvania  the  strongest  in  numbers,  pe- 
cuniary resources,  and  active  church  work. 

The  Federal  Census  reports  for  1890  (the  latest 
made  and  just  published)  are  here  significant. 
The  whole  population  of  the  State  was  5,258,014. 
The  number  of  communicants  in  all  denomina- 
tions was  reported  as  1,726,640.  Of  that  number, 
551,577  were  claimed  as  Roman  Catholics.  It 
should  be  remembered,  however,  that  that  em- 
braces the  whole  claimed  Papal  population  over 
nine  years  of  age,  and  is  not  made  up  from  pre- 
cise lists,  and  hence  cannot  fairly  be  compared 


THE  NUMERICAL  GROWTH.  39 

with  the  reports  from  other  churches  of  their 
communicants,  which  are  transcripts  from  exact 
rolls  of  persons  who  have  made  a  personal  and 
public  profession  of  their  faith  and  been  admitted 
to  the  Lord's  Table.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  for  such 
comparison  the  Roman  Catholic  figures  should  be 
reduced  more  than  one-half.  No  man  who  is  fa- 
miliar with  the  population  believes  that  one-third 
of  the  professedly  religious  people  of  the  State 
and  of  the  country  are  Roman  Catholics,  as  the 
returns  of  the  priests  to  the  census  ofiicers  claim 
—551,577  out  of  1,726,640  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
6,257,871  out  of  20,612,806  in  the  whole  country. 

All  the  Protestant  Churches. 

But,  leaving  out  those  figures  for  Pennsylvania, 
the  communicants  as  reported  for  all  other  de- 
nominations in  1890  were  1,175,063.  The  five 
strongest  embraced  in  that  total  are — Protestant 
Episcopal,  54,720;  Baptist,  86,620;  Lutheran, 
219,725;  Methodist,  of  all  branches,  260,388; 
Presbyterian  and  Reformed,  of  all  branches, 
340,948.  Thus  the  Presbyterian  and  Reformed 
strength  is  almost  one-third  of  the  Protestant 
force  of  the  State. 

The  Presbyterian  Family. 
This  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  total  is  di- 
vided as  follows  among  the  different  branches: 


40  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States 
of  America,  161,386 ; 

The  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church,  6210 ; 

The  Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodist  Church,  2461 ; 

The  United  Presbyterian  Church,  39,204 ; 

The  Associate  Church  of  North  America,  420 ; 

The  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States  (Synod),  3272 ; 

The  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  North 
America  (General  Synod),  2685 ; 

The  Reformed  Presbyterian  (Covenanted)  10 ; 

The  Reformed  Presbyterian  in  U.  S.,  and  Can- 
ada, 600 ; 

The  Reformed  Church  in  America  (Dutch), 
1756; 

The  Reformed  Church  in  the  United  States 
(German),  122,944. 

The  Methodist  Family. 

The  Methodist  family  of  churches  is  in  strength 
the  next  to  the  Presbyterian.  It  will  be  interesting 
here  to  exhibit  the  different  branches  of  them  also, 
which  in  the  aggregate  number  260,388 : 

Methodist  Episcopal,  222,886  communicants ; 

Union  American  Methodist  Protestant.  765  ; 

African  Methodist  Episcopal  (colored),  11,613 ; 

African  Union  Methodist  Episcoj)al  (colored), 
852; 


THE  NUMERICAL  GROWTH.  41 

African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  (colored), 
8689; 

Methodist  Protestant,  10,081 ; 

Wesleyan  Methodist  Connection  of  America, 
1195; 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  635; 

Colored  Methodist  Episcopal,  247 ; 

Primitive  Methodist,  2267 ; 

Free  Methodist,  1158. 

These  two  great  families  of  churches  (the  Method- 
ist and  Presbyterian)  have  thus  more  than  one- 
half  of  the  religious  strength  of  the  State.  The 
fact  is  of  special  interest,  because  the  two  grow 
closely  together  and  have  a  modifying  influence 
upon  each  other. 

Proportionate  Growth. 

The  absolute  Presbyterian  growth  has  thus  been 
very  great.  But,  more  than  that,  it  has  been  pro- 
portionally greater  than  that  of  the  general  popu- 
lation. Note  a  few  comparative  statements  which 
show  how  strikingly  this  has  been  the  case. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  last  century  Presby- 
terianism  had  one  minister  and  one  church  in  the 
whole  region  covered  by  the  Synod.  The  city  of 
Philadelphia  had  then  a  population  of  5000. 

In  1790  it  had  47  ministers  in  the  State,  the 


42  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

population  of  which  was  434,373,  or  one  minister 
to  9240  inhabitants. 

In  1810  it  had  114  ministers,  206  churches,  and 
8368  communicants  in  all  the  Presbyteries  that 
were  in  whole  or  in  part  in  the  State,  whose  popu- 
lation was  then  810,091.  These  Presbyteries  ex- 
tended beyond  the  State.  I  cannot  tell  how  many 
of  their  members  were  in  the  present  bounds  of 
the  Synod ;  the  public  reports  do  not  yet  discrim- 
inate: it  is  safe  to  say  there  were  less  than  100 
ministers,  less  than  200  churches,  and  less  than 
8000  communicants;  on  the  highest  calculation 
there  were  less  than  one  minister  to  8000  people, 
and  not  one  communicant  to  a  hundred  of  the 
population. 

In  1884,  the  year  the  Synod  first  met  in  its 
delegated  form,  it  had  842  ministers,  941  churches, 
and  135,075  communicants  in  a  population  of  (in 
1880)  4,901,348:  a  minister  to  5821,  a  church  to 
4212,  a  communicant  to  37  inhabitants. 

Now  it  has  997  ministers,  1060  churches, 
190,967  communicants  in  a  population  (in  1890) 
of  5,258,014:  one  minister  to  5200,  a  church  to 
4900,  and  a  communicant  to  29  inhabitants. 

Note,  again,  the  communicants  in  Pennsyl- 
vania now  (190,967),  in  a  general  population  of 
less  than  six  millions,  are  more  than  they  were 
in   the   whole  United    States   in    1830  (173,329), 


THE  NUMERICAL  GROWTH.  43 

when  the  population  was  nearly  thirteen  millions 
(12,866,020). 

In  1820,  when  the  population  of  the  whole 
country  was  9,633,820,  and  that  of  Pennsylvania 
1,047,507,  the  Presbyterian  membership  in  the 
country  was  72,096.  Of  that  membership,  15,938 
were  in  the  Presbyteries  which  covered  Pennsyl- 
vania. Those  Presbyteries,  however,  extended 
beyond  the  State,  and  not  more  than  14,000  of 
their  membership  were  in  its  bounds.  In  the 
State  population  now,  five  times  as  great  as  it  was 
in  1820,  the  membership  is  fourteen  times  as  great. 

The  population  of  Pennsylvania  in  1820  was 
almost  the  same  as  that  of  Philadelphia  now ;  the 
communicants  in  Pennsylvania  then,  including 
Philadelphia,  were  about  14,000  ;  in  Philadelphia 
alone  they  are  now  38,500. 

The  city  alone  now  has  nearly  three  times  as 
many  communicants  as  the  State  had  when  its 
population,  including  that  of  the  city,  was  about 
the  same ;  and  the  State  had  in  its  population  of 
a  million  in  1820  more  Presbyterians  than  were 
in  the  country  when  its  population  was  four 
millions. 

And  yet,  again,  the  communicants  in  Philadel- 
phia number  now  38,500.  The  number  in  the 
whole  United  States  in  1815  was  only  39,685.  The 
population  of  the  United  States  was  then  8,500,000, 


44  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

while  in  the  city  it  is  about  1,200,000.  The  city, 
with  a  population  of  over  a  million,  has  as  many 
Presbyterian  communicants  as  the  whole  country 
had  when  its  population  was  over  eight  millions. 
This  suggests  a  closer  and  more  minute  look  at 
Philadelphia,  which  is  a  microcosm  of  the  State  in 
its  religious  history  and  features. 


III. 

PHILADELPHIA. 

The  first  settlers  here  under  Penn,  as  has  been 
stated,  were  almost  exclusively  Friends,  with  a 
sprinkling  of  Episcopalians,  but  no  Presbyterians. 
The  following  tabulated  statement,  from  the  Na- 
tional Census  returns  of  1890,  shows  the  numeri- 
cal position  which  all  denominations  now  occupy : 

All  Denominations. 


Adventists  (five  bodies) 

Regular  Baptists 

Roman  Catholics 

Other  Catholics  (two  bodies) .  .  . 

Con^egationalists 

Disciples  of  Christ 

Dunkards  (two  bodies) 

Evangelical  Association 

Friends  (three  bodies)  ...... 

Jewish  (two  bodies) 

Latter-Day  Saints  (two  bodies)  .  . 

Lutheran  (eleven  bodies) 

Methodist  Episcopal 

Colored  Methodists  (six  bodies)  . 
Other  Methodists  (three  bodies)  . 

Presbyterian  (Northern) 

other  Presbyterians  (five  bodies) . 

Reformed  (three  bodies) 

Protestant  Episcopal 

United  Brethren 

Unitarian 

Universalists 

Various  bodies 


Total 610 


03 

3 

o 

ai 

a 

a 

•a 

53 

03 

a 

tS 

bO 

M 

o 

Td 

o 

O 

H 

2 

164 

1 

74 

25,193 

95 

57 

163,658 

61 

1 

150 

3 

890 

4 

3 

472 

2 

4 

249 

3 

9 

1,256 

9 

10 

5,014 

15 

9 

216 

8 

1 

47 

41 

11,653 

40 

108 

32,925 

107 

21 

5,100 

18 

3 

181 

2 

91 

35,185 

115 

21 

6,014 

21 

21 

7,566 

21 

87 

28,319 

102 

2 

170 

2 

3 

675 

4 

2 

514 

2 

37 

5,578 

32 

664  j 

610 

335,189 

S3,000 
2,962,384 
2,468,300 

100,110 
85,000 
28,000 

130,500 
1,495,000 

475,000 

1,584,400 

3,288,200 

244,900 

14,000 

5,805,500 
699,000 
860,006 

5,019,170 

8,000 

250,000 

245,500 

1,347,400 


45 


46  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The  Roman  Catholic  figures  are  to  be  im- 
mensely discounted  in  the  light  of  what  has  been 
already  said. 


Presbyterian  the  Strongest  Now. 

From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  the  one  (Northern, 
so  called)  branch  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  is 
greatly  in  advance  of  any  other  single  denomina- 
tional organization  (communicants  35,185),  the 
the  next  being — Methodists,  32,925;  Protestant 
Episcopal,  28,319;  Baptist,  25,193;  Lutheran 
11,653  ;  and  that  the  Presbyterian  and  Reformed 
family  of  churches  are  still  further  in  advance  of 
the  Methodist  family,  which  stands  next,  the  Pres- 
byterian and  Reformed  of  all  the  branches  having 
48,765,  and  the  Methodists  of  all  branches,  38,206. 
The  latest  ecclesiastical  reports  which  are  had,  for 
1895,  make  the  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  fig- 
ures 229  ministers,  151  churches,  51,426  com- 
municants, and  158,342  Sabbath-school  members. 

And  yet  at  the  outset  the  movement  for  Presby- 
terianism  here  was  ridiculed.  In  1702,  as  has  been 
noted,  a  missionary  of  the  English  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  wrote 
home :  "  The  Presbyterians  here  come  a  great  way 
to  lay  hands  on  one  another ;  but,  after  all,  I  think 
they  had  as  good  stay  at  home  for  all  the  good 


PHILADELPHIA.  47 

they  do ;"  and  the  following  year  another  wrote : 
"  They  are  not  like  to  increase  here." 

Eighteenth-century  Weakness. 

Nor  was  their  increase  for  a  hundred  years  of 
an  encouraging  extent.  During  the  eighteenth 
century  they  continued  to  be  weak  and  to  strug- 
gle for  existence.  The  First  Church  was  formed 
about  1697;  forty-six  years  passed  before  the 
Second  was  formed,  and  it  was  organized  in  1743, 
not  because  it  was  needed,  but  as  one  of  the  re- 
sults of  the  unhappy  division  that  took  place  in 
the  denomination.  The  Third  followed  in  1768. 
(Four  other  congregations  which  have  since  come 
into  this  branch  were  organized  during  the  cen- 
tury.) But  at  the  close  of  the  century  the  churches 
were  gasping  for  breath.  The  population  of  the 
city  more  than  doubled  between  1776  and  1806.  It 
increased  in  those  thirty  years  from  40,000  to  about 
90,000.  But  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  Presbyte- 
rian communion  rolls  were  as  large  in  the  latter 
year  as  in  the  former.  The  three  congregations 
entered  this  century  less  than  500  strong  in  a 
population  of  69,408. 

This  Century's  Growth — Churches. 

But  the  progress  during  this  century  has  been 
unequalled.     Summarizing  the  new  churches,  we 


48  AMERICAN  PBESBYTERIANISM. 

find  that  2  were  organized  between  1800  and  1810; 
7  between  1810  and  1820 ;  4  between  1820  and 
1830;  11  between  1830  and  1840;  10  between 
1840  and  1850 ;  22  between  1850  and  1860 ;  14 
between  1860  and  1870 ;  33  since  1870— over  one 
church  a  year. 

Communicants. 

The  first  year  in  which  all  the  churches  in  the 
city  reported  the  number  of  their  communicants 
to  the  Presbytery  was  1806.  The  total  was  722. 
Last  year  it  was  38,500.  Observe  the  great  increase 
which  this  is  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  in- 
habitants in  the  city.  The  population  in  1806, 
according  to  a  Directory  for  that  year,  was  between 
90,000  and  100,000.  By  the  last  census  it  was 
1,046,094.  In  the  former  year  the  Church  had, 
therefore,  not  more  than  one  communicant  in  every 
124  of  the  population ;  it  has  now  one  in  29  or  30. 
Or,  to  put  the  matter  in  another  form,  the  census 
of  the  city  is  fourteen  times  as  large  now  as  it  was 
then ;  the  communion  rolls  are  fifty-six  times  as 
large. 

The  w^ay  in  which  the  Presbyterian  Church  first 
overtook,  and  since  has  continued  to  outstrip,  its 
sister  denominations  is  remarkable.  In  1807  the 
Baptists  reported  488  communicants ;  the  Presby- 
terians, 746 ;  the  Methodists,  2170.     Of  the  Episco- 


PHILADELPHIA.  49 

palians  we  have  not  the  precise  figures,  but,  while 
not  as  large  as  the  Methodists,  they  were  larger 
than  the  Presbyterians.  By  the  middle  of  the 
century  the  Presbyterians  had  advanced  to  the 
front,  and  since  that  they  have  been  steadily 
advancing  farther  ahead,  until,  as  the  census  re- 
turns show,  their  number  in  1890  was  35,185,  the 
Methodist,  33,295;  the  Episcopalian,  28,319;  the 
Baptist,  25,193. 

Increase  of  Contributions. 

Thus  far,  the  exhibition  has  been  rosy  and  op- 
timistic. When,  however,  we  look  at  the  money 
contributions,  they  first  brighten  the  view,  but 
near  to  us  a  shadow  falls  upon  the  picture. 
Twenty  years  ago  the  money  reports  were  as 
bright  as  those  of  communicants,  but  the  last  two 
decades  have  witnessed  a  retrogression. 

In  1789  the  churches  which  were  then  in  the 
city  raised  £16  19s.  for  the  benevolent  causes  which 
were  managed  by  the  General  Assembly. 

In  1807  the  whole  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia 
(which  consisted  of  20  churches,  16  of  them  in 
the  country,  with  1500  communicants)  reported 
only  $871  for  the  same  purposes. 

In  1825  there  were  17  churches  with  3946  com- 
municants, and  they  were  reported  as  contributing 
$1048. 


50  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

For  years  after  the  division  into  Old  and  New 
School  one  of  the  branches  did  not  publish  in  the 
statistical  tables  the  moneys  contributed  for  be- 
nevolent objects.  This  was  not  done  until  1853. 
In  that  year  the  two  branches  had  46  churches, 
with  11,096  communicants,  who  contributed 
$40,503. 

There  were,  in  1860,  60  churches  with  15,519 
communicants.   Their  contributions  were  $79,377. 

In  1870,  the  year  of  the  blessed  reunion,  the 
members  reported  were  17,982  and  the  contribu- 
tions $190,170. 

In  1872,  with  19,365  members,  the  benevolent 
contributions  amounted  $473,300.  That  was  four 
hundred  and  fifty  times  as  much  as  in  1825, 
although  the  communicants  were  only  five  times 
as  many — almost  twelve  times  as  much  as  in 
1853,  while  the  communicants  were  not  doubled, 
— and  six  times  as  much  as  in  1860,  with  an  in- 
crease in  communicants  of  about  one-fourth.  It 
was,  moreover,  twice  as  much  as  was  reported  by 
the  denomination  in  the  whole  land  in  1837, 
when  it  had  over  220,000  members. 

The  first  year  in  which  both  the  then  separate 
branches  published  the  moneys  raised  by  their 
congregations  for  their  own  purposes  was  1865. 
The  amount  of  that  column  in  all  the  churches 
in  the  city  was  $216,036.    In  1872  it  was  $519,478. 


PHILADELPHIA.  51 

The  other  columns  in  1865  ran  up  to  $231,100, 
making,  with  the  congregational  expenditures,  a 
total  of  $447,136.  The  same  total  in  1872  was 
$992,777.  The  amount,  therefore,  doubled  in 
seven  years. 

A  Later  Decrease. 

That  was  a  wonderful  money  exhibit.  But  the 
last  twenty  years  have  not  in  this  respect  kept  up 
the  progress.  Last  year  the  38,500  communicants 
contributed  $562,441  for  congregational  purposes 
and  $223,897  for  benevolent  purposes,  or  a  total 
of  $786,338,  or  $206,439  less  than  the  19,365  in 
1872  contributed.  This  is  a  regretful  falling  off. 
It  is  not  to  be  explained  by  the  depreciation  in 
values  nor  by  the  business  depression  of  the  last 
three  years,  for  the  decline  manifested  itself  before 
that  depression  began ;  nor  wholly  by  the  special 
Memorial  contribution  of  1871-73. 

The  comparison  with  1870,  before  the  Reunion 
Memorial  offerings  began  to  be  made,  while  not 
showing  an  absolute  falling  off  for  last  year,  does 
reveal  a  regretful  proportionate  decrease. 

This  fact  has  been  a  surprise.  What  is  the 
explanation  ? 

The  last  twenty  years  have  witnessed  a  great 
deal  of  activity  in  the  special  cultivation  of  the 
liberality  of  the  Church.    Many  new  agencies  have 


52  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

been  at  work.  Organizations  in  our  congrega- 
tions have  increased.  The  new  generation  of 
workers  have  thought  they  were  wiser  and  more 
enterprising  than  their  fathers.  And  yet,  as  far 
as  this  city  goes,  here  is  the  financial  result.  After 
all,  the  Philadelphia  pulpits  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury ago  were  manned  by  pastors  who  did  very 
effective  work  in  what  would  now  be  pronounced 
slow  and  old-fashioned  ways. 


IV. 

THE    CAUSES    OF    THE    GROWTH. 

Adaptation  to  American  Society. 

The  very  condensed  sketch  which  has  been 
given  of  the  progress  of  Presbyterianism  in  Phila- 
delphia especially  establishes  this  position:  The 
Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  truths  to  which  it 
witnesses  in  its  standards  and  preaches  from  its 
pulpits,  in  the  principles  of  its  ecclesiastical  gov- 
ernment, in  its  mode  of  worship  and  in  its 
methods  of  administration,  is  the  one  of  the 
Christian  churches  which  is  pre-eminently  adapt- 
ed to  this  country.  For  Philadelphia  is  one  of 
the  best  representatives  of  the  settled  American 
society.  Some  of  the  other  large  cities  are  more 
conglomerate  in  their  inhabitants,  more  under 
the  influence  of  Romanism  and  infidelity.  Phila- 
delphia has  been  largely  preserved  from  these 
evils :  it  is  more  of  an  American  city ;  it  has  been 
more  steady  and  sure  in  its  growth,  more  con- 
servative in  its  character;  it  is  a  type  of  the 
thoroughly  organized  and  settled  American  popu- 
lation. 

53 


54  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANTSM. 

Our  Baptist  and  Methodist  brethren  shoot  ahead 
for  a  time  in  the  frontier  and  new  settlements  and 
among  the  less-educated  populations.  The  Ro- 
man Catholic  organization  has  had  its  growth 
through  immigration  from  abroad.  A  careful 
study  of  the  religious  conditions  of  the  country 
will  establish  the  position  that  Presbyterianism 
has  its  great  growth  and  strength  among  the 
settled  populations  of  the  land  of  the  average 
intelligence  and  solid  culture.  It  has  shown  it- 
self to  be  pre-eminently  a  great  educator,  intel- 
lectually and  religiously.  It  seizes  hold  upon  the 
thoughtful  and  elevates,  and,  as  it  elevates,  grows 
itself  the  stronger. 

A  Failure. 

Pennsylvania  will  certainly  be  accepted  as  a 
fair  representative  of  the  settled  American  society, 
and  the  progress  which  Presbyterianism  has  made 
and  the  position  it  has  reached  in  it  are  a  proof  of  the 
admirable  adaptation  of  its  doctrine,  government, 
and  worship  to  the  average  American  mind  as 
well  as  to  the  most  highly  cultured  classes.  But 
a  failure  that  has  marked  the  work  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  suggests  a  failure  to  use  one  of 
its  forces  that  should  be  remedied. 

Its  progress  was  slow  in  the  early  period  of  the 
State.     New   settlements  were  not  quickly  pre- 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  GROWTH.  55 

empted  by  it.  Poor  districts  were  not  occupied. 
After  our  Methodist  bretiiren  began  to  preach 
here,  their  progress  was  for  a  time  like  wild-fire. 
They  outstripped  all  other  denominations.  In  the 
beginning  of  this  century  their  strength  in  Phila- 
delphia was  nearly  threefold  that  of  the  Presby- 
terians, though  now  Presbyterians  have  overtaken 
and  passed  them.  The  census  reports  for  1890 
gave  the  Methodist  communicants  of  all  branches 
in  the  city  38,206,  the  Presbyterian  and  Reformed 
49,759.  McMaster  in  his  History  of  the  People  of 
the  United  States  (vol.  i.  p.  56)  thus  describes  the 
Methodist  beginning  and  progress  in  New  York 
and  the  colonies :  In  New  York  City,  "  hard  by 
the  Dutch  Church,  stood  a  smaller  and  less  pre- 
tentious chapel,  on  whose  worshipers  Episco- 
palians and  dissenters  alike  looked  down  with 
horror  not  unmingled  with  contempt.  The  build- 
ing had  been  put  up  some  sixteen  years  before. 
Yet  the  congregation  was  not  numerous,  and  was 
made  up  chiefly  of  shopkeepers  and  negroes,  for 
the  Methodists  were  still  a  new  sect.  Indeed,  the 
society  at  New  York,  though  it  dated  no  farther 
back  than  1766,  could  have  boasted  with  justice 
of  being  the  oldest  Methodist  society  and  of  wor- 
shiping in  the  oldest  Methodist  church  in  Amer- 
ica. .  .  .  When  Francis  Asbury  landed  in  America 
in  1772  there  were  scattered  from  New  York  to 


56  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM, 

Georgia  six  preachers  and  a  thousand  members 
of  the  sect.  But  such  was  the  excitement  of  the 
time,  the  energy  and  force  of  the  preacher,  that, 
when  Burgoyne  surrendered  the  membership  had 
increased  to  seven  thousand  souls  and  the  minis- 
ters to  forty.  This  growth  is  the  more  remarkable 
as  every  English  preacher  except  Asbury  deserted 
his  flock  and  went  back  to  England  when  the 
war  broke  out.  When  peace  came  eighty-one  men 
were  spreading  the  Methodist  worship  through 
the  States." 

The  Presbyterian  failure  at  the  beginning  to 
reach  with  stated  preaching  and  with  church 
organization  the  very  poor,  the  frontier  regions, 
the  struggling  pioneers,  for  a  while  marked  the 
history  of  the  Church  everywhere  in  this  country. 
Our  splendid  Home  Missions  and  Church  Erec- 
tion schemes,  with  the  money  which  our  people 
are  pouring  into  their  treasuries,  have  in  recent 
years  been  largely  remedying  that,  so  that  now 
the  Church  is  bounding  along  in  the  Territories 
and  the  new  States.  But  this  gratifying  success 
should  not  make  us  overlook  the  defect  in  the  be- 
ginning— a  defect  in  the  practical  application  of 
one  of  the  principles  of  our  divinely -given  system. 
Nor  should  we  overlook  our  slackness  in  taking 
care  of  old  churches  which  through  emigration 
have  dwindled  and  weakened  and  become  unable 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  GROWTH  57 

properly  to  support  pastors,  not  a  few  of  which 
are  to  be  found  in  the  old  settlements  of  the  East 
and  in  our  own  State.  A  remedy  for  this  in  its 
bounds  is  provided  by  the  Synod  in  the  adoption 
of  its  Home  Missions  and  Sustentation  scheme. 

The  Eldership. 

But  while  recognizing  the  value  of  the  Home 
Missions  and  Sustentation  scheme  to  supplement 
with  financial  aid  the  efforts  of  the  local  congre- 
gations, let  us  bring  to  the  front  an  aggressive  and 
sustaining  power  that  we  have  never  yet  fully  put 
forth.  At  both  ends,  the  Methodist  Church  by  its 
local  preachers,  and  the  Episcopal  Church  by  the 
position  to  which  it  assigns  its  liturgy  and  by  the 
use  of  lay  readers,  can  be  more  effective  than  we 
now  are — that  is,  in  beginning  and  carrying  on 
worship  in  sparsely-settled  and  struggling  regions 
and  in  keeping  it  up  in  decaying  regions ;  for  we 
have  acted  too  much  on  the  idea  that  a  minister 
is  absolutely  needed,  and  until  one  could  be 
financially  sustained  the  needy  field  has  been  ne- 
glected. But  we  have  a  divinely  established  office 
which  could  do  the  work  better  than  our  sister  de- 
nominations. We  have  never  developed  our  elder- 
ship as  we  should  do.  We  should  recognize  the 
difference  of  gifts  among  them,  and  encourage 
their  exercise  in  regions  when  and  where  the  min- 


58  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

istry  cannot  be  obtained  or  supported.  Properly 
trained,  properly  exercised,  they  could  be  more 
effective  than  the  Methodist  local  preachers  and 
the  Episcopal  lay  readers  with  their  liturgy ;  and, 
while  claiming  that  the  history  shows  that  our 
Church  is  best  adapted  to  the  settled  regions  and 
to  the  educated  classes,  we  should  labor  more 
among  the  ignorant,  the  poor,  and  the  neglected, 
and  draw  and  hold  them. 

Elasticity  of  the  System. 

"While  finding  in  the  review  of  the  past  reasons 
for  admiring  gratitude  to  God,  for  adherence  to 
the  essentials  of  our  theological  and  governmental 
standards,  and  for  cultivating  a  neglected  element 
of  our  strength,  the  history  furnishes  also,  in  the 
modification  of  unessentials,  an  exhibition  of  the 
elasticity  of  our  governmental  system  and  of  its 
adaptation  to  territorial  changes. 

The  little  band  of  seven  ministers  who  in  1706, 
with  their  associated  elders,  formed  the  first  Pres- 
bytery on  American  soil  were  poor  struggling 
missionaries  in  the  sparse  settlements  of  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  Maryland. 
No  superior  organization  created  the  body  or 
authorized  those  ministers  to  organize  themselves 
into  it.  In  virtue  of  the  power  which  is  inherent 
in  believers,  in  cases  of  extraordinary  necessity, 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  GROWTH.  59 

to  ordain  their  officers  and  re-create  their  eccle- 
siastical organizations,  they  acted  without  au- 
thority from  any  foreign  power.  As  they  grew 
they  divided  and  subdivided  themselves  into 
Presbyteries  and  Synods,  which  sought  to  run 
more  and  more  with  geographical  and  political 
divisions.  For  a  long  time  the  lines  of  division 
could  not  be  sharply  drawn.  More  than  once 
elective  affinity  was  recognized  and  acted  upon. 
But  it  was  felt  to  be  abnormal  and  against  the 
true  idea  of  the  Church.  Up  to  the  separation  in 
1837,  during  the  division  of  both  branches,  and 
on  the  reunion,  the  lines  of  Presbyteries  and  Syn- 
ods ran  in  the  most  bewildering  manner.  As  they 
appear  in  the  statistical  tables  it  is  hard  work  to 
locate  their  ministers  and  churches.  When  the 
two  branches  came  together  there  were  nine  Syn- 
ods and  parts  of  Synods  and  twenty-nine  Presby- 
teries and  parts  of  Presbyteries  in  Pennsylvania, 
running  from  and  into  other  States,  binding  to- 
gether in  Presbyteries  heterogeneous  geographical 
elements  and  running  the  line  between  homo- 
geneous elements  that  should  have  been  com- 
pacted into  the  small  organizations  for  effective 
work.  All  this  ran  both  against  the  unity  idea 
of  the  Church  and  against  even  the  common- 
sense  business  instincts  of  the  people.  The  strug- 
gle against  it  resulted,  on  the  reunion  in  1870,  in 


60  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

the  adoption  of  strict  State  and  geographical 
lines,  with  scarcely  any  excepjtion,  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  reconstructed  Synods  and  Presbyteries. 
And  in  the  Consolidation  Act  of  1881  the  idea 
appeared  in  almost  its  perfect  form  in  the  consti- 
tution of  Provincial  Synods  or  Assemblies  coter- 
minous with  State  lines.  One  principle,  logical 
and  historical,  bound  together  the  formation  of 
1706  and  those  of  1881. 

The  first  record  of  names  in  the  General  Pres- 
bytery in  1707  has  the  same  number  of  elders  as 
ministers.  The  Presbytery  was  in  the  strictest 
sense  a  representative  body.  It  represented  par- 
ticular churches.  When  it  transformed  itself  into 
the  Synod  it  sought  quickly  to  extend  the  prin- 
ciple of  representation.  For  a  time  and  at  times 
the  Synod  was  composed  of  delegations  from  the 
Presbyteries.  But  the  Church  was  not  yet  large 
enough  to  permit  that  to  be  worked  with  effect. 
When,  however,  it  increased  numerically  and  ex- 
tended territorially  and  transformed  itself  into 
the  General  Assembly,  it  returned  permanently 
to  the  delegated  form.  It  did  that  when  the  whole 
ecclesiastical  force  was  only  177  ministers  and  419 
congregations  among  three  million  people  who 
hung  as  a  fringe  along  the  Atlantic  coast.  It  was 
again  the  logical  carrying  out  of  that  principle 
which,  before  the  consolidation  into  State  Synods, 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  GROWTH.  61 

and  especially  in  connection  with  that  act,  when 
the  most  of  the  Synods  were  larger  than  the  whole 
Church  was  when  the  Assembly  was  created,  pro- 
vided that  those  Synods  should  also  be  delegated 
bodies. 

Development  of  the  Westminster  System. 

In  all  these  movements  our  Church  has  been 
striving  after  a  practical  realization  of  the  scheme 
which,  with  wondrous  foresight,  the  Westminster 
Assembly  of  Divines  elaborated.  Those  who  were 
largely  instrumental  in  formulating  the  change 
which  is  perfected  in  the  State  Provincial  Synods 
advocated  no  radical  movement,  were  not  revolu- 
tionary in  form  or  spirit.  They  were  influenced 
by  a  careful  study  of  our  ecclesiastical  principles 
at  the  fountain-head;  by  a  desire  effectively  to 
develop  what  had  always  potentially  existed ;  and 
by  the  belief  that  the  best  way  to  make  most 
highly  effective  the  essential  principles  of  our  sys- 
tem was  to  adapt  its  forms  to  changing  circum- 
stances. The  Westminster  theory  was  simply 
this:  The  congregation  represented  in  the  Ses- 
sion; the  Sessions  in  the  Presbytery;  the  Pres- 
byteries in  the  Synod ;  the  Synods  in  the  Assem- 
bly ;  and  eventually  the  Assemblies  in  an  Ecu- 
menical Council.  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  have 
been  too  cramped  a  field  on  which  to  exhibit  this 


62  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

system  in  its  completeness,  though  an  outside 
Christian  cannot  see  why,  under  the  one  political 
government  as  they  are,  there  should  not  be  the 
delegated  provincial  Synods  or  Assemblies  of 
England,  Wales,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  with  a 
delegated  British  Assembly  over  all.  But  with 
an  unconscious  foresight  the  Westminster  fathers 
prepared  a  system  which  finds  free  room  for  its 
expansion  in  these  United  States  of  America. 
Step  by  step  it  has  crept  onward.  The  State 
Synod  movement  was  a  great  advance.  Two  more 
steps  remain.  Under  the  logic  of  events  they  can- 
not be  long  delayed.  The  reunion  of  the  Southern 
Church  with  us,  which  cannot  be  indefinitely  put 
off,  will  necessitate  the  first.  Would  that  this  cen- 
tury could  find  a  wider  realization  of  it  in  the 
organic  union  of  all  the  Calvinistic  branches  of 
the  churches  of  the  country !  The  two  steps  are — 
first,  in  the  constitution  of  the  General  Assembly. 
It  has  long  been  too  large,  and  it  is  every  year 
increasing.  It  must  be  reduced  in  membership, 
and  it  may  need  to  meet  less  frequently  and  for  a 
longer  time ;  but  no  reduction  can  be  made  with 
fairness  on  the  basis  of  Presbyterial  representa- 
tion in  it :  the  representation  must  become  Synod- 
ical — the  consistent  carrying  out  of  the  Westmin- 
ster system.  And  the  second  step  that  remains  to 
be  taken  is  this :  The  different  branches  of  Amer- 


THE  CAUSES  OF  THE  GROWTH.  63 

ican  Presbyterianism  must  be  brought  together 
federally,  if  not  organically.  Praying  for  all 
branches  of  the  Christian  Church,  we  should 
specially  pray  for  the  divided  branches  of  Pres- 
byterianism, "that  they  all  may  be  one." 


IN  THE  NATION 


IN  THE  NATION. 

I. 

FLICKERING  BEGINNINGS. 

The  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  by 
which  the  thirteen  States  became  a  nation,  and 
the  transformation  of  the  Synod  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  into  the  General  Assembly,  with  the 
adoption  of  the  Standards  of  the  Church,  were 
coetaneous — in  1788. 

It  is  proposed,  in  this  second  part  of  this  vol- 
ume, to  exhibit  the  numerical  growth  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  whole  country  since 
those  events. 

The  two  parts  of  the  volume,  with  some  cross 
lines,  will  supplement  and  strengthen  each  other. 

Varied  National  Origin. 

In  the  sketch  of  the  development  of  Presby- 
terianism  in  Pennsylvania,  which  has  been 
given,  it  is  stated  that  the  Minutes  of  the  Gen- 
eral Presbytery,  which  was  formed  in  1705  or 
1706,  show  that  seven  ministers  came  into  the 

67 


68  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

organization.  They  were  settled  in  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  and  the 
people  to  whom  they  ministered  were  mainly 
Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish,  with  a  sprinkling  of 
Welsh.  That  Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish  element 
has,  in  its  influence,  ever  since  been  the  predomi- 
nant one,  in  Pennsylvania  especially.  But  in 
proceeding  to  show  the  numerical  development 
of  Presbyterianism  in  the  country  at  large  there 
should  be  a  recognition  of  the  English,  Dutch, 
French,  and  German  elements  which  have  else- 
where more  largely  helped  to  form  the  national 
Church.  The  difficulties  which  they  all  had  to 
contend  against  at  the  outset,  and  the  weakness 
which  they  exhibited  for  two  hundred  years,  will 
be  shown  by  a  brief  reference  to  the  movements 
of  Presbyterian  ministers  before  the  formation  of 
the  General  Presbytery. 

Isolated  Ministers  and  Congregations. 

America  was  discovered  in  1492.  For  more 
than  a  hundred  years,  down  to  1614,  the  country 
had  no  hints  even  looking  to  a  Presbyterian  his- 
tory. And  during  the  seventeenth  century  the 
history  is  only  that  of  itinerant  preachers  to 
straggling  settlements  from  Long  Island  to  the 
Carolinas ;  and  whether  some  of  them  were  Pres- 
byterians has  been  a  matter  of  controversy :  cer- 


FLICKERING  BEGINNINGS.  69 

tainly  they  were  in  no  Presbyterial  organization 
and  connection.  These  isolated  laborers  deserve 
to  be  mentioned  here. 

In  Virginia  and  Maryland. 

In  1614  there  seems  to  have  been  a  Presbyte- 
rian church  at  Bermuda  Hundred,  Virginia,  with 
the  Rev.  Alexander  Whitaker  as  pastor.  But  a 
Church-of-England  governor  of  the  colony  inaugu- 
rated a  persecution  which  broke  it  up  in  1649,  and 
drove  away  its  members,  some  to  what  is  now  An- 
napolis, Md.  There,  too,  they  were  persecuted  by  the 
officials  of  Lord  Baltimore,  and  were  compelled  to 
maintain  their  existence  by  forcible  resistance. 
And  to  them  went  as  ministers  Francis  Doughty 
in  1658,  Matthew  Hill  in  1667,  William  Traill  in 
1682,  and  Francis  Makemie  in  1683 — the  last 
named  sent  out  by  Laggan  Presbytery,  Ireland. 
And  Makemie  organized  the  churches  of  Snow 
Hill  and  Rehoboth  in  1683. 

New  York. 

In  1630,  Richard  Denton,  with  a  congregation 
which  he  had  ministered  to  in  Halifax,  York- 
shire, England,  migrated  to  Massachusetts,  and 
afterward  to  Hempstead,  Long  Island,  in  1644, 
where  he  remained  until  1659,  when  he  returned 
to  England. 


70  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

In  1637,  Francis  Doughty  settled  in  Taunton, 
Mass.,  and  afterward  in  New  York  in  1643,  in 
Flushing  in  1650,  and  in  Maryland  in  1658. 
After  Mr.  Doughty,  Mr.  Denton  preached  in  New 
York  from  1650  to  1652,  though  no  church  was 
organized  there  until  1717. 

Long  Island. 

The  church  of  Southold,  Long  Island,  was  or- 
ganized in  1640,  with  John  Young  as  pastor,  and 
in  1656  that  of  Jamaica,  Long  Island. 

New  Jersey. 

There  were  organizations  in  1667  in  Newark, 
in  1668  in  Elizabeth,  in  1680  in  Woodbridge  and 
in  Fairfield,  by  immigrants  from  Connecticut; 
and  in  1692  in  Freehold  by  immigrants  from 
Scotland. 

North  and  South  Carolina. 

There  were  Presbyterian  settlers  in  North  Caro- 
lina as  early  as  1650,  driven  from  Virginia  by 
persecution,  and  in  South  Carolina  in  1670. 

Huguenots. 

The  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  drove 
hither  Huguenots,  who  settled  in  New  York  in 


FLICKERING  BEGINNINGS.  71 

1683,  Staten  Island,  1685,  Charleston,  S.  C,  1686, 
Boston,  1687,  New  Rochelle,  N.  Y.,  1688. 

Pennsylvania. 

As  far  back  as  1678  it  is  claimed  that  there  was 
a  movement  for  a  Dutch  Presbyterian  church  at 
Norriton,  Montgomery  county,  Pa. 

New  England. 

Early  in  the  century,  in  1625,  a  Presbyterian 
colony  settled  in  Dorchester,  -  Mass.,  and  before 
1641  one  at  Salem,  Mass. 

Dr.  Dexter  (in  his  Congregationalism,  p.  463)  says : 
"  The  early  Congregationalism  of  this  country  was 
Barrowism,  and  not  Brownism — a  Congregational- 
ized  Presbyterianism  or  a  Presbyterianized  Con- 
gregationalism, which  had  its  roots  in  the  one  sys- 
tem and  its  branches  in  another ;  which  was  es- 
sentially Genevan  within  the  local  congregation, 
and  essentially  other  outside  of  it." 

Subjects  of  Persecution. 

Persecution  in  England,  in  Scotland,  in  Ireland, 
and  on  the  Continent  drove  many  Presbyterians 
to  America,  and  they  were  scattered  in  little  com- 
panies through  the  colonies.  But  very  weak, 
very  ineffectual,  were  the  movements  which  pre- 
ceded the  formation  of  the  General  Presbytery 


72  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

under  the  prompting  of  Francis  Makemie.  "  At 
the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,"  it  is 
claimed,  "there  were  at  the  basis  of  American 
Presbyterianism  a  large  number  of  Presbyterian 
Puritan  churches  in  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  and  South 
Carolina.  There  were  three  Irish  Presbyterian 
ministers — Francis  Makemie  and  Josias  Makie  in 
Virginia,  Samuel  Davis  in  Delaware,  and  one 
Scotch  Presbyterian  in  South  Carolina,  Archibald 
Stobo.  Besides  these,  several  Scotch  Presbyterian 
ministers  had  settled  in  New  England  Congrega- 
tional churches  "  (Briggs's  American  Presbyterian- 
isrrij  p.  130). 

Contracted  Field  of  the  Presbytery. 

But,  whatever  the  extent  to  which  these  scat- 
tered Presbyterian  churches  and  ministers  ex- 
isted, the  list  of  those  who  constituted  the  Pres- 
bytery shows  how  contracted  was  its  field  and 
how  few  were  the  organizations  it  represented : 
Francis  Makemie  of  Accomac  county,  Virginia ; 
Jedediah  Andrews  of  Philadelphia ;  John  Wilson 
of  New  Castle  (then  in  Pennsylvania,  now  Dela- 
ware); Samuel  Davis  of  Lewes,  Delaware;  Na- 
thaniel Taylor  of  Marlborough;  John  Hampton 
of  Snow  Hill,  Maryland ;  and  George  MacNish  of 
Maryland  ;  and  ruling  elders  (at  the  second  meet- 


FLICKERING  BEGINNINGS.  73 

ing)  Joseph  Yard,  William  Smith,  John  Gardiner, 
James  Stoddard.  Not  from  all  the  fields  that  have 
been  mentioned  above  did  any  representatives  ap- 
pear, and  not  for  some  time  after  were  some  of 
these  brought  into  the  organization. 

So  unpromising  were  the  first  hundred  years  of 
American  Presbyterian  history,  so  weak  was  the 
first  organized  meeting. 

Eighty  Organized  Years. 

Then  for  eighty  years  slowly,  slowly,  against 
tremendous  and  multiplied  difficulties — obsta- 
cles without,  strife  within — under  the  General 
Presbytery,  the  General  Synod,  the  divided  Syn- 
ods of  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  the  reunited 
Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  the  poor 
Church  struggled  on,  and  when  its  General  As- 
sembly was  formed  had  177  ministers  and  419 
congregations,  204  of  which  had  no  ministers. 
Not  very  cheering  even  yet  the  prospect. 

But  from  that  time  an  advance  that  is  stimu- 
lating will  be  seen. 


II. 

ALL  DENOMINATIONS. 

Before  proceeding  to  that,  let  the  present 
strength  in  the  United  States  of  all  the  religious 
denominations  be  exhibited,  showing  at  a  glance 
where  among  its  sister  organizations  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  now  stands.  Its  weakness  for 
so  long  and  its  present  relative  position  will  give 
greater  intensity  to  what  is  to  follow. 

National  Census  Reports  of  1890. 

The  following  summary  is  made  up  from  the 
National  Census  reports  of  1890,  the  latest,  it  will 
be  understood,  that  have  been  made.  Those  re- 
ports embrace  only  the  number  of  organizations 
or  congregations  in  the  different  denominations, 
with  their  communicants,  and  the  church  edifices 
with  their  accommodations  and  value.  The  last 
three  items  are  important  contributions  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  strength  of  the  churches. 

Congregations,   Communicants,  Edifices,  Ac- 
commodations, Value. 

There  were  in  1890,  in  the  United  States,  143 


ALL  DENOMINATIONS.  75 

different  religious  denominations,  with  110,641 
ministers,  165,177  organizations  or  congregations, 
in  which  were  20,612,806  communicants  or  mem- 
bers, having  165,855  church  edifices  and  halls, 
with  a  seating  capacity  of  46,015,721,  valued  at 
$679,630,139. 

The  Eight  Largest. 

The  great  numerical  strength  in  all  these  de- 
partments of  figures,  however,  is  concentrated  in 
eight  families  of  churches  which  have  each  over 
five  hundred  thousand  members,  and  combined 
have  over  nineteen  millions  of  the  20,612,806 — 
viz.  the  Baptists  (with  thirteen  divisions),  the 
Eoman  Catholics,  the  Congregationalists,  the  Dis- 
ciples of  Christ,  the  Lutherans  (seventeen),  the 
Methodists  (seventeen),  the  Presbyterians  and 
Reformed  (fifteen),  and  the  Protestant  Episco- 
palians. 

The  Remainder. 

There  are  six  others  which  have  above  one 
hundred  thousand  members  each:  Christians, 
103,722;  Friends,  107,208;  German  Evangelical 
Synod,  187,432;  Jewish  130,496;  Latter-Day 
Saints,  166,125 ;  United  Brethren,  225,281.  Only 
three  others  reach  50,000 :  Adventists,  60,401 ; 
Dunkards,  73,795;  Unitarians,  67,749.     Of  those 


76  AMERICAN  PRESBYTEPJANISM. 

that  run  above  5000,  the  Christian  Scientists  have 
8724;  the  Christian  Union,  18,214;  the  Church 
of  God  (Winebrennarian),  22,511 ;  Church  of  the 
New  Jerusalem,  7095 ;  German  EvangeHcal  Prot- 
estant, 36,156 ;  Mennonites,  41,541 ;  Moravians, 
11,781 ;  Salvation  Army,  8742 ;  Spiritualists, 
45,030;  Universalists,  49,194;  independent  con- 
gregations, 14,126. 

Relative  Strength. 

The  strength  of  each  of  the  eight  families  of 
churches  which  contain  so  immense  a  proportion 
of  the  religious  people  of  the  country  is,  in  the 
different  columns,  as  follows,  as  given  officially  in 
1890. 

Baptists. — 25,646  ministers;  42,909  organiza- 
tions; 3,712,468  communicants  or  members; 
43,210  buildings;  12,165,710  sittings,  value, 
$82,328,123. 

Roman  Catholics. — 9196  ministers;  10,276  or- 
ganizations; 6,257,871  members;  10,296  build- 
ings; 3,447,816  sittings ;  value,  $118,009,746. 

Congregationalists. — 5058  ministers ;  4868  or- 
ganizations; 512,771  members;  5192  buildings; 
1,595,726  sittings ;  value,  $43,335,437. 

Disciples  of  Christ. — 3773  ministers;  7246  or- 
ganizations; 641,051  members;  5192  buildings; 
1,592,726  sittings ;  value,  $12,206,038. 


ALL  DENOMINATIONS.  77 

Lutherans. — 4591  ministers ;  8595  organizations ; 
1,231,072  members;  8015  buildings;  2,310,262 
sittings;  value,  $35,060,354. 

Methodists. — 30,000  ministers ;  51,489  organiza- 
tions; 4,589,284  members;  52,195  buildings; 
13,515,816  sittings;  value,  $132,140,179. 

Presbyterians  and  Reformed. — 11,954  ministers; 
15,657  organizations ;  1,587,790  members ;  15,975 
buildings;  5,046,675  sittings;  value,  $113,613,329. 

Protestant  Episcopalians. — 4224  ministers;  5102 
organizations ;  5417  buildings ;  1,388,284  sittings ; 
value,  $82,835,418. 

The  First  Four. 

Three-fourths  of  the  religious  strength  of  the 
country,  in  all  the  columns  of  figures,  are  in  four 
of  the  denominations — the  Baptists,  Roman 
Catholics,  Methodists,  and  Presbyterians.  They 
have  nearly  16,000,000  of  the  20,612,806  commu- 
nicants. And  their  relative  strength  in  each 
particular  is  as  follows: 

In  Ministers— Methodists,  30,000 ;  Baptists, 
25,646;  Presbyterians  and  Reformed,  11,954; 
Roman  Catholics,  9196. 

Organizations — Methodists,  51,489;  Baptists, 
42,909;  Presbyterians  and  Reformed,  15,657; 
Roman  Catholics,  10,276. 

Communicants — Roman    Catholics,    6,257,871 ; 


78  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Methodists,  4,589,284;  Baptists,  3,712,486;  Pres- 
byterians and  Reformed,  1,587,790. 

Buildings— Methodists,  52,195 ;  Baptists,  43,210; 
Presbyterians  and  Reformed,  15,975;  Roman 
Catholics,  10,296. 

Sittings— Methodists,  13,515,816;  Baptists,  12,- 
165,710;  Presbyterian  and  Reformed,  5,046,675; 
Roman  Catholics,  3,447,816. 

Value  of  Edifices— Methodists,  $132,140,179; 
Roman  Catholics,  $118,009,746;  Presbyterians 
and  Reformed,  $113,613,329 ;  Baptists,  $82,328,123. 

In  the  Largest  States. 

As  to  the  total  religious  strength  in  the  largest 
States,  while  New  York  (with  its  population  of 
5,997,853)  reports  the  largest  number  of  members, 
2,171,822,  and  Pennsylvania  (with  its  population 
of  5,258,014)  the  next,  1,726,640  members,  fol- 
lowed by  Ohio  (with  its  population  of  3,672,316), 
1,215,409  members,  and  then  by  Illinois  (popula- 
tion, 3,826,351),  1,202,588  members ;  and  while  in 
the  value  of  church  edifices  the  order  is  the  same : 
New  York,  $140,123,008 ;  Pennsylvania,  $85,917,- 
370;  Ohio,  $42,138,862;  Illinois,  $39,715,245; 
Massachusetts,  however,  coming  before  Ohio  with 
$46,835,014 ;  in  the  seating  capacity  of  its  churches, 
2,868,490,  New  York  falls  behind  Pennsylvania, 
which  has  3,592,019,  and  in  the  number  of  organ- 


ALL  DENOMINATIONS.  79 

izations,  8237,  and  edifices,  7942,  behind  Illinois 
(organizations  8296)  and  Ohio  (organizations  9345, 
edifices  8857),  and  even  behind  Texas  in  organiza- 
tions (8766). 

Southern  Church  Accommodations. 

In  the  matter  of  church  accommodations  a 
marked  and  striking  difference  between  the 
Northern  and  Southern  States  appears:  the  fig- 
ures are  much  larger  proportionately  in  the  latter 
than  in  the  former.  Indeed,  it  is  a  surprise  to 
know  that  in  some  of  the  latter  the  church  sit- 
tings are  more  than  the  population.  Thus  Dela- 
ware has  111,172  church  sittings  for  a  population 
of  108,493 ;  Georgia,  2,108,566  for  1,837,353 ;  Mis- 
sissippi, 1,330,542  for  1,289,600;  North  Carolina, 
2,192,835  for  1,617,947 ;  South  Carolina,  1,199,908 
for  1,151,149 ;  Tennessee,  1,811,942  for  1,767,518. 
Others  of  these  States  have  sittings  almost  equal 
to  the  population :  Florida,  391,132  for  391,422 ; 
Arkansas,  1,041,040  for  1,128,179;  Kentucky, 
1,504,736  for  1,858,635;  Virginia,  1,490,675  for 
1,655,980.  The  States  in  that  section  which  are 
more  like  the  North  in  this  respect  are — Louisi- 
ana, which  has  617,245  sittings  for  a  population 
of  1,118,587,  and  Texas,  1,567,745  sittings  for  a 
population  of  2,235,523. 

These  figures  would  suggest  that  the  Southern 


80  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

section  of  our  country  is  more  thoroughly  per- 
meated by  religion  than  the  Northern — at  least  in 
the  places  to  which  the  people  may  resort  for  wor- 
ship and  instruction.  But  what  is  the  explana- 
tion of  the  fact  that  in  some  of  them  the  churches 
can  accommodate  more  than  there  are  people  in 
the  State,  men,  women,  and  children,  religious  and 
irreligious,  all  told?  The  fact,  we  confess,  has 
been  a  surprise  to  us;  the  explanation  cannot 
strike  us,  especially  as  the  populations  of  those 
States  have  been  not  decreasing,  but  steadily  in- 
creasing, so  that  the  churches  are  not  in  aban- 
doned places  which  were  once  populous. 

Two  Peculiar  States. 

The  figures  for  Utah  are  of  interest,  because  of 
its  peculiar  feature  and  questions  that  may  pos- 
sibly arise  in  the  future.  Among  its  population 
of  207,905  are  427  organizations,  with  128,115 
members,  437  edifices  and  halls,  with  113,971 
sittings,  and  valued  at  $1,493,791.  Of  these  the 
Mormons  report  307  organizations  with  118,201 
members,  and  309  edifices  and  halls,  with  93,390 
sittings,  and  valued  at  $736,916.  That  leaves  only 
120  organizations,  with  9914  members,  and  128 
edifices  and  halls,  with  20,581  sittings,  valued  at 
$756,875,  to  other  denominations.  The  other 
churches  which  report  members  in  Utah  are — 


ALL  DENOMINATIONS.  gl 

ta^.'^nu^.'  ^^'  ^^P"'*''  ^27;  Eoman  Catholics, 
5958;  Christian  Scientists,  100;  Congregationalists, 
460;  Disciples  of  Christ,  270;  Lutherans,  84- 
Methodists,  1055  ;  Presbyterians,  1207;  Protestant 
il^piscopahans,  751 ;  Salvation  Army  4     With  a 

T9SanT'T^'''''^P  °^  ^^^'201  ''^  ^  population 
ot  207,905,  the  new  State  cannot  but  be  under  ab- 
solute Mormon  control. 

Perhaps  there  is  only  one  other  of  our  great 

political  divisions  in  which  the  adherents  of  one 

Church  form  a  majority  of  the  population.    New 

Mexico,  with  a  population  of  155,593,  has  100,576 

Koman   Catholic  communicants.     Nowhere  else 

does  any  one  denomination  number  a  fifth  of  the 

population ;  so  that,  if  there  were  any  fear  of  any 

one  seeking  to  control  the  political  situation,  the 

attempt  to  do  so  would  be  futile. 


III. 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN  AND  REFORMED. 

The  summary  of  the  Presbyterian  and  Re- 
formed churches  embraced  in  the  foregoing  is 
made  up  as  follows: 


The  National  (Northern) .  .  . 

The  Cumberland 

The  Cumberland  (colored) .  . 
The  Welsh  Calvinistic  .... 

The  United 

The  Southern 

The  Associate  of  N.  America  . 
The  Associate  Ref.  Synod  of 

South 

The  Reformed  Presbyterian 

in  the  U.  S.  (Synod)  .... 
The   Reformed  Presbyterian 

in  N.  America  (Gen.  Synod) 
Reformed  Presbyterian  (Cov- 
enanted)   

Reformed  Presbyterian  in  the 

U.  S.  and  Canada 

The    Reformed   in  America 

(Dutch) 

The   Reformed  in  the  U.  S. 

(German)     

The  Christian  Reformed  .  .   . 


6,717 

2,971 

224 

187 

866 

2,391 

31 

116 

115 

33 


788.224 

169,940 

12,956 

12,722 

94,402 

179,721 

1,053 

8,501 

10,574 

4,602 

37 


1  600 

572  '    92,970 

1510  ,  204,018 
99      12,470 


13 

7,220 

2,560 

207 

203 

882 

2,431 

31 

121 

118 

84 


678 

1,365 
110 


2,282,249 

754,095 

55,709 

45,711 

268,228 

710,738 

5,194 

37,590 

37,695 

12,480 

200 


258,673 

540,758 
33,955 


874,455,200 

3.515,510 

195,826 

625,875 

5,408,084 

8,812,152 

29,200 

211,850 

1,071,400 

469,000 


75,000 

10,340,159 

7,975,583 
428,500 


A  brief  explanation  of  the  peculiarities  of  the 
different  members  of  this  family  of  churches  may 
be  helpful  to  some  readers. 

82 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN  AND  REFORMED.      83 

The  bond  which  unites  them  as  Presbyterian 
and  Reformed  is  their  adoption  of  confessional 
Calvinism  in  doctrine,  and  the  government  of 
their  churches,  in  an  ascending  grade  of  judi- 
catories, by  presbyters  or  elders,  teaching  and 
ruling. 

The  Northern. 

The  commonly  called  Northern  Presbyterian 
Church,  holding  on  to  its  organization  in  this 
country  from  1705  or  1706,  adheres  to  the  West- 
minster Confession  unchanged,  except  in  its  state- 
ments concerning  the  relation  of  civil  officers  to 
the  Church  and  the  marriage  of  a  deceased  wife's 
sister. 

The  Cumberland. 

The  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  origi- 
nated in  a  revival  in  Kentucky  in  the  beginning 
of  this  century  and  in  the  bounds  of  Transylvania 
Presbytery.  Pressed  by  the  lack  of  regular  min- 
isters to  supply  its  multiplied  congregations,  the 
Presbytery  licensed  men  without  the  constitu- 
tional qualifications.  The  Cumberland  Presbytery, 
which  had  been  formed  out  of  the  Transylvania, 
was  dissolved  by  the  Synod  for  its  irregularities, 
some  of  its  ministers  suspended,  and  others  at- 
tached to  Transylvania.  That  led  to  the  with- 
drawal of  some  and  the  formation  of  an  independ- 


84  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

ent  Presbytery  in  1810,  called  the  Cumberland. 
The  doctrinal  difference  from  the  mother  Church 
lies  in  a  dissent  from  the  alleged  Westminster 
teaching  as  to  reprobation,  a  limited  atonement, 
infant  salvation,  and  the  calling  of  the  elect  only. 
The  Confession  was  revised  in  1883,  and  reduced 
to  one  hundred  and  nineteen  short  paragraphs. 

Cumberland  (Colored). 

The  Cumberland  Presbyterian  (colored)  Church 
went  out  from,  and  was  organized  by,  the  Cum- 
berland General  Assembly  in  1869  at  Murfrees- 
boro,  Tennessee,  being  constituted  of  colored  min- 
isters and  members  from  that  Church.  Its 
symbols  are  those  of  the  parent  body.  Its  first 
Synod,  Tennessee,  was  constituted  in  1871,  and 
its  General  Assembly  in  1871.  As  its  title  indi- 
cates, it  is  composed  wholly  of  colored  people. 

The  Southern. 

The  Southern  Presb3^terian  Church  seceded 
from  the  Northern  on  account  of  slavery  and  the 
Civil  War.  In  1858  the  churches  of  the  New 
School  in  the  South  separated  from  that  organiza- 
tion because  of  differences  on  slavery.  They 
were  4  Synods  and  15  Presbyteries,  and  organ- 
ized the  United  Synod,  South.  In  1861,  on  ac- 
count of  the  Civil  War,  the  Old  School  churches 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN  AND  REFORMED.       85 

in  the  South,  withdrew  from  the  Old  School 
Assembly,  and  formed  "  The  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  Confederate  States  of  America,"  with  11 
Synods  and  47  Presbyteries.  In  1864  that  body 
and  the  United  Synod  South  united  in  the  present 
Southern  organization  under  the  present  title. 

The  Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodist. 

The  Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodist  Church,  as  its 
name  suggests,  came  from  Wales  and  from  "  the 
Methodist "  revival  of  the  last  century,  in  which 
Whitefield,  as  well  as  Wesley,  was  so  prominent. 
In  1811  the  organization  in  Wales  withdrew  from 
the  Church  of  England.  The  first  Welsh  Calvin- 
istic Methodist  Church  in  the  United  States  was 
formed  in  Remsen,  New  York,  in  1826.  A  Presby- 
tery was  constituted  three  years  later.  In  1869  a 
General  Assembly  was  organized.  The  Church 
is  Calvinistic  in  doctrine  and  Presbyterian  in  gov- 
ernment, and  exists  among  the  Welsh  in  thirteen 
States. 

The  United  in  North  America. 

The  United  Presbyterian  Church  in  North 
America  was  organized  in  1858  by  a  union  of  the 
Associate  and  Associate  Reformed  Presbyterians 
— organizations  which  had  come  from  Scotland. 
"It  accepts  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith 


86  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIAN  ISM. 

and  Catechisms,  modifying  somewhat  the  chapter 
on  the  powers  of  the  civil  magistrates."  Accom- 
panying these  standards  as  a  part  of  the  basis  of 
the  union  was  a  "judicial  testimony  declaring  the 
sense  in  which  these  symbols  are  received."  It 
resists  secret  oath-bound  societies,  and  uses  the 
Book  of  Psalms  exclusively  in  singing. 

The  Associate  of  North  America. 

The  Associate  Church  of  North  America  is  com- 
posed of  ministers  and  members  of  the  Associate 
Reformed  Church  who  refused  to  join  in  the  union 
of  1858  which  formed  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church,  as  stated  above.  It  is  found  in  eight 
States.  So-called  Associate  Presbyterians  in  their 
origin  were  a  secession  from  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land led  by  Ebenezer  Erskine.  In  1753  a  Presby- 
tery was  organized  in  Pennsylvania.  "  In  1782 
most  of  these  Presbyterians,  who  held  what  are 
known  as  the  Marrow  doctrines,  united  with  Re- 
formed Presbyterians,  whence  came  in  course  of 
time  various  bodies  of  Associate  Reformed  Pres- 
byterians. There  were  Associate  Presbyterians, 
however,  who  did  not  join  this  union,  and  these 
organized  in  1801  a  Synod." 

Associate  Reformed  Synod  of  the  South. 
The  Associate   Reformed  Synod  of  the  South 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN  AND  REFORMED.       87 

was  a  secession  in  1821,  caused  by  differences  on 
the  Psalmody  and  Communion  questions,  from  the 
General  Synod  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church, 
It  is  found  in  twelve  States. 

Reformed  Presbyterian  Synod  and  General 

Synod. 

The  Reformed  Presbyterians  are  the  ecclesias- 
tical descendants  of  the  Covenanters  of  Scotland. 
The  General  Synod  and  the  Synod,  originating  in 
a  division  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church 
in  1833,  agree  in  the  protest  against  civil  govern- 
ments which  do  not  recognize  the  headship  of 
Christ.  The  latter  does  not  allow  its  members  to 
vote  or  hold  office  under  our  government;  the 
former  does.  The  latter  is  in  nineteen  States ;  the 
former  in  nine. 

The  five  churches  last  named  are  all  "  Psalm- 
singing,"  and  are  strict  adherents  to  the  Westmin- 
ster Standards. 

The  Dutch  Reformed. 

The  Reformed  Church  in  America  (Dutch)  and 
the  Reformed  Church  in  the  United  States  (Ger- 
man) are  Presbyterian  and  Calvinistic,  the  former 
coming  from  Holland,  the  latter  from  Germany. 
Their  judicatories  are  called  Consistories,  Classes, 
and  General  Synod. 


88  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The  Dutch  had  its  first  church  here  in  1628. 
The  Belgic  Confession,  the  Canons  of  the  Synod 
of  Dort,  and  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  are  its 
modern  creeds.  It  has  in  the  United  States  a 
General  Synod,  four  Particular  Synods,  and  thirty- 
three  Classes  in  fourteen  States.  At  first "  Dutch  " 
in  title  and  in  language,  it  has  ceased  so  to  be. 
The  word  "  Dutch  "  was  dropped  in  1867. 

The  German  Reformed. 

The  German  came  from  the  Reformed  Churph 
in  the  Palatinate,  a  province  of  Germany.  Con- 
gregations in  it  go  back  to  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  in  1793  it  formed  an  inde- 
pendent organization  here.  It  has  here  a  General 
Synod,  eight  Synods,  six  English  and  two  Ger- 
man, and  fifty-five  Classes  in  twenty -eight  States 
and  the  District  of  Columbia.  Its  symbol  is  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism.  More  than  half  of  its 
strength  is  among  the  Germans  in  Pennsylvania. 
The  word  "  German  "  was  dropped  from  its  official 
title  in  1869. 

The  Christian  Reformed. 

The  Christian  Reformed  Church  comes  from  an 
organization  in  Holland  which  was  in  1835  a 
secession  from  the  Reformed  Church  of  Holland 
on  account  of  latitudinarian  teaching  in  the  State 


THE  PRESBYTERIAN  AND  REFORMED.       89 

Church.  At  different  tiraes  there  have  been  addi- 
tions to  it  from  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  be- 
cause of  the  refusal  of  the  latter  to  condemn  Free 
Masonry.  It  has  a  Synod  and  seven  Classes  in 
thirteen  States. 

The  census  returns  report  also  four  congrega- 
tions with  thirty-seven  members,  called  The  Re- 
formed Presbyterian  (Covenanted),  and  another 
congregation  of  six  hundred  members,  called  the 
Reformed  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada — secessions,  the  one  from  the 
Synod,  the  other  from  the  General  Synod. 


IV. 

-  THE  NATIONAL,  CUMBERLAND,  AND 
SOUTHERN. 

For  the  purpose  now  had  in  view,  only  the 
National,  the  Southern,  and  the  Cumberland 
organizations  will  demand  our  special  attention. 
The  others  were  never  in  organic  union  with  our 
National  Presbyterian  Church,  and  hence  their 
figures  are  not  embraced  in  the  earlier  reports, 
so  that  any  comparison  which  should  embrace 
their  present  figures  would  make  an  inordinately 
favorable  exhibit  as  to  the  Presbyterian  growth 
in  proportion  to  the  population.  Comparisons 
which  would  include  their  present  figures  should, 
to  make  a  truthful  impression,  include  their  earlier 
ones,  and  we  do  not  have  them,  nor  can  they  be 
fully  and  accurately  obtained.  The  Southern  and 
the  Cumberland  must,  however,  be  embraced: 
they  were  once  a  part  organically  of  the  National 
Church.  They  are  included  in  the  earlier  figures, 
the  Cumberland  until  1810,  and  the  Southern 
until  1861,  in  which  years  respectively  they  went 
out  from  our  National  Church :  they  must  also  be 
embraced  in  the  later  figures  that  a  proper  view 
may  be  had  of  the  growth  of  Presbyterianism  in  the 
nation. 

90 


NATIONAL,  CUMBERLAND,  AND  SOUTHERN.     91 

Their  Titles. 

The  Southern  Church  has  as  its  full  title  "  The 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States ;"  what 
is  commonly  called  the  Northern  Church  is  "  The 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America."  It  will  not  be  invidious,  for  brevity's 
sake,  to  call  the  latter  the  National  Presbyterian 
Church,  since  it  has  members  in  every  State  and 
Territory  but  one  (Mississippi),  while  the  South- 
ern Church  lies  wholly  in  the  Southern  States, 
with  the  exception  of  a  couple  of  congregations 
with  79  members  in  Indiana. 

The  Cumberland. 

The  independent  Cumberland  Presbytery  was 
formed  in  1810  by  three  ministers.  The  early 
figures  of  the  body  cannot  be  obtained.  In  1813 
the  Presbytery  divided  itself  into  three  Presby- 
teries, and  constituted  itself  the  Cumberland 
Synod.  In  1822  the  number  of  ordained  mem- 
bers was  46.  A  history  of  the  Church  published 
in  1835  estimated  the  numbers  then  as  follows: 
9  Synods,  35  Presbyteries,  300  ministers,  100  li- 
centiates, and  50,000  communicants.  In  1828  the 
Synod  was  divided  into  four  Synods,  and  met  as 
a  General  Assembly  in  1829,  having  16  Presby- 
teries under  it. 


92  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

The  Southern. 

When  the  Southern  General  Assembly,  seced- 
ing from  the  Old  School,  was  organized  in  1861, 
it  included  10  Synods,  47  Presbyteries,  about  700 
ministers,  1000  churches,  75,000  communicants — 
about  10,000  of  them  colored.  In  1864  an  organic 
union  was  formed  between  it  and  "The  United 
Synod  of  the  South,"  which  in  1859  had  seceded 
from  the  New  School.  This  added  about  120 
ministers ,  190  churches,  and  12,000  communi- 
cants. The  Presbytery  of  Patapsco,  of  the  Synod 
of  Baltimore,  united  with  it,  adding  6  ministers,  3 
churches,  and  576  communicants.  In  1869,  in 
the  Synod  of  Kentucky  75  ministers,  137  churches, 
13,540  communicants  also  withdrew  from  the  Na- 
tional Church  and  entered  it;  and  in  1874,  67 
ministers,  141  churches,  and  8000  communicants 
from  the  Synod  of  Missouri.  These  figures  com- 
bined would  make  about  968  ministers,  1471 
churches,  and  109,116  communicants  who  with- 
drew from  the  parent  organization  into  the 
Southern  Church. 

The  Cumberland  Colored. 
The  Cumberland  Colored  Church  was  organized 
in  May,  1869,  at  Murfreesboro,  Tenn.,  under  the 
direction  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Cum- 
berland Church,  out  of  its  membership.     Its  first 


NATIONAL,   CUMBERLAND,  AND  SOUTHERN.     93 

Synod,  Tennessee,  was  organized  in  1871,  and  its 
General  Assembly  in  1874.  It  had  in  1890,  23 
Presbyteries,  224  congregations,  183  edifices,  12,956 
communicants,  and  property  valued  at  $195,826 — 
in  ten  States.  These  are  the  latest  figures  we  have 
been  able  to  secure. 

Their  National  Distribution. 

The  following  collation  from  the  census  re- 
ports will  show  the  distribution  of  these  branches, 
which  were  formerly  one,  through  the  States  and 
Territories.  It  gives  the  communicants  in  1890, 
and  so  does  not  exhibit  their  full  strength  in 
1895  (which  will  next  be  given),  but  it  reveals 
their  national  and  State  relation: 


Alabama 

Alaska 

Arizona 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut  .... 
Delaware  ..... 
District  of  Columbia 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho    

Illinois 


•o 

PI 

d 

03 

a 

M 

M 

a 

(U 

a> 

o 

.£3 

,CI 

'■s 

^ 

a 

d 

O 

f3 

"^ 

cc 

o 

152 

10,560 

7,390 

481 

188 

494 

4,478 

12,282 

16,236 

.  .  . 

1,496 

5,902 

231 

1,680 

4,622 

4,882 

246 

1,042 

3,444 

88 

1,370 

12,096 

598 

815 

54,744 

.  .  . 

14,177 

a 


3,104 
225 


195 


94 


AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 


Indiana     ... 
Indian  Territory 

Iowa 

Kansas  .... 
Kentucky  .  .  .  . 
Louisiana .  .  .  . 
Maine  .  .  .  .  . 
Maryland .  .  .  , 
Massachusetts  .  . 
Michigan  .  .  .  . 
Minnesota  .  .  . 
Mississippi  .  .  . 
Missouri  .  .  .  . 
Montana  .  .  .  , 
Nebraska  .    .    .    . 

Nevada 

New  Hampshire 
New  Jersey  .  .  . 
New  Mexico  .  . 
New  York  .  .  . 
North  Carolina  . 
North  Dakota  .    . 

Ohio 

Oklahoma    .    .    . 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania  .  . 
Rhode  Island  .  . 
South  Carolina  . 
South  Dakota  .  . 
Tennessee .   .    .    . 

Texas 

Utah 

Vermont  .  .  .  . 
Virginia  .  .  .  . 
Washington  .  .  . 
West  Virginia .  . 
Wisconsin  .  .  . 
Wyoming  .... 


35,464 

1,803 

29,994 

24,050 

6,917 

70 

205 

10,593 

3,570 

25,088 

13,732 


17,272 

1,232 

12,159 

275 

956 

58,759 

1,275 

154,083 

6,516 

3,036 

82,444 

450 

3,935 

161,386 

608 

6,829 

4,413 

4,399 

2,812 

688 

230 

945 

3,770 

4,275 

11,019 

364 


79 
629 


10,915 
4,926 

1,654 


11,055 
10,363 


27,477 


16,561 

15,954 
10,744 


26,515 
'5,995 


4,826 
1,229 
1,167 
2,386 
15,458 
868 


6,353 
23,390 

416 


2,602 

897 
6,210 


39,477 
22,297 


470 
32 


04*0 
O  o 

II 

o 


190 
1,421 


278 
471 


100 


5,202 
1,740 


NATIONAL,  CUMBERLAND,  AND  SOUTHERN.     95 

Their  Combined  Strength. 

The  combined  figures  of  the  three  now  separate 
organizations  are  (in  1895) — 3  General  Assem- 
blies ;  59  Synods ;  424  Presbyteries ;  13,156  con- 
gregations; 10,887  preachers  of  the  gospel  (or- 
dained ministers  9838,  licentiates  834,  local  evan- 
gelists 215;)  2170  candidates  for  the  ministry; 
46,448  ruling  elders;  20,579  deacons;  1,320,296 
communicants;  1,263,831  Sabbath-school  mem- 
bers. Last  year  384  young  men  were  licensed  to 
preach;  340  were  ordained  to  the  ministry;  89 
ministers  were  received  from  other  denomina- 
tions ;  235  new  churches  were  organized  and  14 
received  from  other  denominations;  98,110  per- 
sons were  added  to  the  communion  rolls  on  pro- 
fession and  46,298  on  certificate;  30,760  adults 
and  33,233  infants  were  baptized.  The  amount 
of  money  raised  last  year  was  $15,966,890,  di- 
vided as  follows :  for  congregational  expenses, 
$11,723,052;  General  Assemblies'  expenses, 
$103,392;  benevolent  causes,  $4,140,446.  The 
benevolent  contributions  were  to  the  following 
causes :  Home  Missions,  $1,558,316 ;  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, $863,461;  Education,  $422,541;  Sabbath- 
school  missionary  work,  $141,151 ;  Ministerial 
Relief,  $116,084;  miscellaneous,  $1,038,893. 

In  the  Home  Missions  figures  are  included  the 


96  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

contributions  to  the  Home  Missions,  Freedmen's, 
Sustentation,  and  Church  Erection  Boards  and 
Committees ;  in  the  Education,  the  contributions 
to  the  Education  and  College  Aid  Boards  and 
Committees. 

In  the  preceding  table  and  in  the  comparisons 
which  follow  we  oannot  include  the  Colored  Cum- 
berland. Its  Assembly  Minutes,  with  statistical 
tables,  are  not  published,  and  all  that  we  have  been 
able  to  secure  are  the  five  general  statements  of 
the  census  reports  of  1890.  They  would  add  23 
Presbyteries,  224  congregations,  and  12,956  com- 
municants, making  the  total  of  the  four  now  in 
those  columns  at  least  447  Presbyteries,  13,380 
congregations,  1,333,252  communicants.  But,  as 
we  cannot  run  the  colored  figures  through  all  the 
comparisons,  we  will  not  include  these.  It  should 
be  remembered,  however,  that  they  would  slightly 
increase  all  the  totals — not  so,  however,  as  se- 
riously to  affect  them,  not  at  all  affecting  the  im- 
pressions made. 

The  Comparative  Summary. 

It  will  be  well  to  give  here,  side  by  side,  the 
summary,  published  by  the  Stated  Clerk  of  each 
General  Assembly,  so  that  all  may  be  easy  of 
reference,  and  that  the  proportion  which  belongs 
to  each  may  be  clearly  manifest : 


NATIONAL,   CUMBERLAND,  AND  SOUTHERN.     97 


Synods  

Presbyteries 

Congregations  .  .  .  . 
Preachers : 

Ordained  ministers 

Licentiates   .    .    .    . 

Local  evangelists    . 

Candidates 

Ruling  elders  .    .    .    . 

Deacons 

Communicants.  .  .  . 
S.-S.  members .    .    .    . 

Licensures 

Ordinations 

Ministers  received  .  . 
Churches  organized  . 
"  received  .  . 
Added  on  profession  . 
"  certificate  . 
Adult  baptisms  .  .  . 
Infant        "  .    .    . 

Contributions : 

Congregational    .    . 

General  Assembly  . 

Home  Missions   .    . 

Sustentation .   ,    .    . 

Freedmen 

Church  Erection .   . 

Foreign  Missions   . 

Education     .    .    .    . 

College  Aid  .    .    .    . 

Ministerial  Relief  . 

S.-S.  Work  .    .    .    . 

Miscellaneous  .    .    . 


National. 

Southern. 

31 

13 

224 

74 

7,496 

2,776 

6,797 

1,337 

474 

79 

215 

1,477 

425 

26,590 

8,481 

9,058 

6,808 

922,904 

203,999 

994,793 

154,273 

315 

69 

273 

67 

82 

7 

176 

59 

11 

3 

67,938 

13,598 

38,734 

7,564 

25,729 

5,031 

27,731 

5,502 

19,921,141 

$1,439,945 

89,329 

14,073 

997,500 

32,760 

72,265 

98,362 

111,448 

9,623 

217,824 

.  .  . 

712,877 

111,877 

214,637 

51,848 

145,964 

92,932 

13,256 

133,682 

7,469 

937,980 

100,913 

Cumberland. 

15 
126 

2,884 

1,704 

281 

268 

11,377 

4,713 

193,393 

114,765 


16,574 

$361,966 
13,867 


4,667 
38,707 
10,092 

9,896 


V. 

NUMERICAL  INCREASE. 

Now,  concentrating  the  attention  upon  these 
three  Presbyterian  churches,  compare  in  detail  the 
later  figures  with  the  corresponding  columns  on 
their  first  appearance  in  the  reports. 

Synods  and  Presbyteries. 

In  1788,  as  the  Church  was  entering  upon  the 
national  stadium  with  its  newly-organized  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  it  had  four  S3aiods,  New  York  and 
New  Jersey,  Philadelphia,  Virginia,  and  the  Caro- 
linas,  and  16  Presbyteries:  Dutchess;  Suffolk 
New  York  and  New  Brunswick ;  Philadelphia 
Lewestown;  New  Castle;  Baltimore;  Carlisle 
Redstone;  Hanover;  Lexington  and  Transyl- 
vania ;  Abingdon  ;  Orange ;  South  Carolina.  Un- 
der the  three  General  Assemblies  descending  from 
that  Assembly  there  are  now  59  Synods  and  424 
Presbyteries.  The  names  of  the  first  Synods  and 
Presbyteries  suggest  the  narrow  field  of  the 
Church — simply  fringing  the  Atlantic  from  New 
York  to  South  Carolina:  the  long  list  of  the 
Synods  and  Presbyteries  now  in  existence  covers 
every  State   and   Territory   in   the   Union   from 

98 


NUMERICAL  INCREASE.  99 

Maine  and  the  Great  Lakes  down  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  and  across  the  land  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Ministers  and  Congregations. 

In  1788  there  were  177  ordained  ministers  upon 
the  roll ;  there  are  now  9838.  There  were  nom- 
inally 429  congregations;  there  are  now  13,156. 

The  population  of  the  country  in  1788  was  less 
than  3,900,000  (in  1790  it  was  3,924,124 ;)  now  it 
is,  we  suppose,  nearly  70,000,000  (it  was  62,622,250 
in  1890). 

The  increase  of  population  has  been,  therefore, 
less  than  eighteen-fold,  while  that  of  the  Presby- 
terian ministers  has  been  fiftv-five-fold,  and  of 
congregations  more  than  thirty-fold.  The  pro- 
portionate statement  concerning  the  congrega- 
tions is  beneath  the  reality,  for  of  the  429  in  1788, 
204  were  vacant,  and  as  there  were  but  177  min- 
isters, we  may  feel  assured  that  those  204  were 
generally  the  mere  shadows  of  a  name ;  and  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  the  increase  of  congregations  has 
been  sixty-fold. 

Fourscore  Years  Ago,  and  Now. 

Gillett,  in  his  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
gives  the  following  table  concerning  what  was 
fourscore  years  ago  the  immense  missionary  region 
west  of  the  Alleghenies  and  east  of  the  Mississippi : 


100  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Presbyterian 
Population.         churches. 

Ohio 330,000  78 

Western  Virginia 75,000  12 

Kentucky 400,000  91 

Tennessee 260,000  79 

Louisiana 120,000  0 

Missouri  Territory 21,000  0 

Mississippi  Territory 58,000  6 

Indiana  Territory 25,000  1 

Illinois  Territory •    13,000  0 

1,302,000  268 

Put  beside  that  the  following  table,  drawn  from 
the  census  of  1890 : 

Presbyterian 

Population.  churches. 

Ohio 3,672,316  828 

Western  Virginia 762,794  140 

Kentucky 1,858,635  507 

Tennessee 1,767,518  864 

Louisiana 1,118,587  88 

Missouri  Territory 2,679,184  776 

Mississippi  Territory 1,289,000  352 

Indiana  Territory 2,192,404  389 

Illinois  Territory 3,826,351  752 

19,166,789  4696 

The  population  now  in  those  sections  is  nearly 
fifteen  times  as  large  and  is  more  than  one-fourth 
of  the  whole  population  of  the  United  States,  with 
nearly  eighteen  times  as  many  churches,  and 
more  than  one-third  of  the  whole  number  in  the 
three  branches  of  the  denomination,      Missouri, 


NUMERICAL  INCREASE.  101 

without   a  Presbyterian   church   then,   has   now 
776;  Illinois,  without  any  then,  now  has  752. 

Ministers  during  the  Revolution. 

When  the  Revolutionary  War  broke  out  there 
was  in  the  country  one  General  Synod  with  11 
Presbyteries  and  135  ministers.  (The  congrega- 
tions and  communicants  cannot  be  given.)  From 
Massachusetts  to  the  Carolinas,  among  three  mil- 
lions of  people,  there  were  scattered  not  as  many 
ministers  as  are  now  in  Philadelphia  with  its 
million  people.  If  the  country  were  to-day  sup- 
plied only  in  the  same  proportion  as  the  strug- 
gling colonies  were,  it  would  have  less  than  two 
thousand  Presbyterian  ministers,  instead  of  the 
10,887  who  are  on  the  denominational  rolls. 

Communicants. 

How  many  communicants  were  there  in  1788  ? 
We  do  not  know,  but  we  can  approximate  to  the 
number.  The  first  year  in  which  they  were  re- 
ported was  1807.  The  total  was  then  17,871,  The 
reports,  however,  were  very  incomplete.  Out  of 
the  29  Presbyteries,  12  made  no  return.  Some 
of  them  did  not  report  for  several  years  afterward. 
But,  including  the  first  reports  that  they  did 
make  with  those  of  1807,  the  number  could  not 
possibly  be  above  22,000.     (The  next  year  the 


102  AMERICAN  rRESBYTERIANISM. 

number  was  21,270.)  Certainly  there  were  not 
more  than  20,000  in  1807.  The  congregations 
then  were  598,  the  average  number  of  communi- 
cants in  a  congregation  being,  therefore,  about  33. 
Allow  the  same  average  in  1788,  when  there  were 
435  congregations,  and  there  were  not  15,000  Pres- 
byterian communicants  in  the  whole  country. 

The  truth  is,  our  denomination  was  then  very 
weak,  and,  though  patriotic  and  because  patriotic, 
its  churches  came  out  of  the  Revolutionary  War 
in  a  sadly  broken-up  condition.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Inglis,  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  wrote 
Oct.  13,  1776 : 

Patriotism  op  Presbyterians. 

"  Although  civil  liberty  was  the  ostensible  ob- 
ject, the  bait  that  was  flung  out  to  catch  the 
populace  at  large  and  engage  them  in  the  rebel- 
lion, yet  it  is  now  past  all  doubt  that  an  abolition 
of  the  Church  of  England  w^as  one  of  the  princi- 
pal springs  of  the  dissenting  leaders'  conduct; 
and  hence  the  unanimity  of  the  dissenters  in  this 
business.  ...  I  have  it  from  good  authority  that 
the  Presbyterian  ministers,  at  a  Synod  where  most 
of  them  in  the  Middle  Colonies  were  collected, 
passed  a  resolve  to  support  the  Continental  Con- 
gress in  all  their  measures.  This,  and  this  only, 
can  account  for  the  uniformity  of  their  conduct ; 


NUMERICAL  INCREASE.  103 

for  I  do  not  know  of  one  of  them,  nor  have  I  been 
able,  after  strict  inquiry,  to  hear  of  any,  who  did 
not,  by  preaching  and  every  effort  in  their  power, 
promote  all  the  measures  of  Congress,  however 
extravagant."  {Documentary  History  of  New  York, 
iii.  pp.  1050, 1051 ;  Hawkins,  Historical  Notices,  pp. 
328,  329.) 

Such  a  tribute  from  one  who  was  not  a  friend 
may  now  be  blazoned  by  us  in  letters  of  gold,  the 
more  because  of  the  suffering  which  their  patriot- 
ism brought  upon  the  ministers  and  congregations 
when  it  cost  something  to  be  patriotic.  What  that 
suffering  was  is  suggested  by  this  paragraph  from 
Dr.  George  P.  Hays'  valuable  and  interesting  vol- 
ume, Presbyterians  (pp.  115,  6): 

"  As  might  be  expected,  religion  suffered  greatly 
during  this  preliminary  period,  as  well  as  during 
the  progress  of  the  war.  The  political  excitement 
and  the  military  disturbance  made  regular  church- 
work  almost  impossible.  Disorders  of  the  finances 
of  the  country  made  the  support  of  the  ministry 
extremely  difficult.  Very  many  pastors  betook 
themselves  to  other  callings,  especially  to  agricul- 
ture, for  support.  Many  joined  the  army,  either 
as  chaplains  or,  as  not  unfrequently  happened,  as 
officers  of  companies  made  up  in  their  own  neigh- 
borhood. Churches  were  often  taken  and  turned 
into   stables   or    riding-schools.     The   church   of 


]04  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Newtown  had  its  steeple  sawed  off,  and  was  finally 
torn  down  and  its  sides  used  for  soldiers'  huts. 
The  church  of  Princeton  was  occupied  by  the 
Hessian  soldiers,  a  fireplace  built  in  it,  and  the 
pews  and  galleries  used  for  fuel.  More  than  fifty 
places  of  worship  throughout  the  land  were  ut- 
terly destroyed  by  the  enemy  during  the  war. 
Others  were  so  defaced  and  injured  that  they  were 
unfit  for  use.  Pastors  in  many  cases  were  not 
allowed  to  continue  their  ministry.  Rodgers  of 
New  York,  Richards  of  Rah  way,  Prime  of  Hunt- 
ingdon, and  Mc  Whorter  of  Carolina  were  forced 
to  flee  for  their  lives.  On  many  occasions  the 
soldiers  destroyed  what  they  could  not  carry 
away,  and  the  Presbyterian  clergy  were  gener- 
ally the  special  objects  of  vengeance." 

Communicant  Growth. 

Of  course,  then,  the  membership  of  the  churches 
had  been  woefully  depleted.  But  we  desire  to  con- 
fine ourself  to  certain  and  official  figures,  and 
therefore  we  take  the  communicants  when  first  re- 
ported. In  1807  there  were  18,781,  or,  adding,  as 
already  explained,  for  non-reporting  churches, 
about  20,000.  Now,  they  are  1,322,296.  The 
population  of  the  whole  country  in  1807  was 
about  6,600,000  (in  1800  it  was  5,308,483,  and  in 
1810,  7,239,881);  now  nearly  70,000,000.    The  in- 


NUMERICAL  INCREASE.  105 

crease  of  population,  therefore,  in  the  last  eighty- 
eight  years  has  been  somewhat  more  than  ten- 
fold; that  of  the  Presbyterian  communicants 
sixty-six-fold. 

Here  is  a  statement  that  will  give  a  sharp  idea 
of  the  Presbyterian  advance  since  the  formation 
of  the  Assembly :  The  city  of  Philadelphia  had 
in  1890  a  little  over  a  million  inhabitants;  the 
population  of  the  whole  country  a  century  before 
was  nearly  four  millions.  Well,  in  Philadelphia 
there  were  in  1890  in  the  congregations  of  our 
National  Presbyterian  Church  alone  about  twice 
as  many  communicants  (31,585)  as  there  were  in 
1788  in  the  whole  country.  In  the  little  space  of 
twenty  miles  by  seven  along  the  Delaware,  with 
its  million  people,  twice  as  many  communicants 
as  there  were  among  the  four  millions  of  the 
thirteen  States  which  were  just  forming  their  Na- 
tional Constitution ! 

Old  and  New  Schools. 

When  the  Old  and  New  School  division  took 
place,  in  1838,  the  strength  of  the  Church  was — 
23  Synods,  135  Presbyteries,  2140  ministers,  280 
licentiates,  244  candidates,  2815  congregations, 
220,557  communicants.  The  first  year  of  their 
separation  the  Old  School  reported  1615  minis- 
ters, 1673  churches,  6377  additions  on  confession, 


106  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

126,583  communicants;  the  New  School,  1093 
ministers,  1260  churches,  4691  additions  on  con- 
fession, 106,000  communicants.  The  last  year  of 
their  separation  (1869)  the  figures  were — Old 
School,  2381  ministers,  2740  churches,  15,189  ad- 
ditions, 258,963  communicants ;  New  School,  1848 
ministers,  1721  churches,  9707  additions,  172,560 
communicants.  The  two  came  together  in  1870 
with  51  Synods,  259  Presbyteries,  4238  ministers, 
338  licentiates,  541  candidates,  4526  churches, 
446,561  communicants.  The  reconstruction  of 
the  Synods  and  Presbyteries  the  next  year  gave 
35  Synods  and  167  Presbyteries.  The  population 
of  the  country  increased  between  1838  and  1870 
nearly  two-and-a-half- fold  (from  about  16,000,000 
in  1838  to  38,558,371  in  1870;)  the  communicants 
a  little  more  than  doubled  in  the  same  period — 
both  branches,  it  will  be  remembered,  having  lost 
by  the  Southern  withdrawals.  Between  1870  and 
the  present  the  population  has  advanced  about 
three-fourths;  the  communicants  have  much  more 
than  doubled. 

Benevolent  Contributions. 

The  first  year  in  which  the  benevolent  contri- 
butions were  reported  was  1798,  when  there  were 
247  ministers.  The  amount  was  §1397,  an  aver- 
age of  less  than  $6  to  a  pastorate.     In  1807,  the 


NUMERICAL  INCREASE.  107 

first  year  in  which  the  communicants  were  re- 
ported, the  amount  was  $4641,  an  average  of  23 
cents  to  a  communicant.  Last  year  the  amount 
was  $4,140,446,  an  average  of  $3.13  per  communi- 
cant ;  or  sixty  times  as  many  communicants  con- 
tributed to  benevolence  eight  hundred  and  ninety- 
two  times  as  much  money. 

Present  Missionary  Work. 

Down  to  1815  the  annual  expenditures  for  mis- 
sions in  the  whole  denomination  rarely  exceeded 
$2500.  Last  year,  through  the  eight  benevolent 
agencies  by  which  the  National  General  Assembly 
directly  works,  it  received  $2,648,097 ;  and,  with 
the  amount,  had  at  work  in  the  home  field  1731 
missionaries ;  659  in  the  foreign  field  (with  1943 
native  agents,  of  whom  188  were  ordained  minis- 
ters) ;  175  ministers  and  257  teachers  among  the 
freedmen ;  95  Sabbath-school  missionaries ;  as- 
sisted 1032  young  men  in  their  studies  prepara- 
tory to  the  ministry ;  aided  in  the  erection  of  182 
church  edifices  and  manses;  supported  785  dis- 
abled ministers  or  families  of  ministers ;  and  as- 
sisted 35  institutions  of  learning  which  are  strug- 
gling into  self-support  under  Presbyterian  guid- 
ance. What  a  contrast  all  this  with  the  work 
fourscore  years  ago !  The  figures  are  a  contrast — 
not  a  comparison. 


108 


AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 


Home  Missions. 

It  may  be  added,  as  suggesting  the  influence 
which  all  this  has  upon  individual  souls  for  their 
salvation,  that  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the 
National  Church  reports  that  of  the  1,040,949 
additions  to  the  churches  on  profession  from  1870 
to  1894,  200,501  were  to  the  churches  receiving 
aid  from  it — one-fifth  of  the  whole  number  the 
fruit  of  the  labors  of  the  struggling  Home  mis- 
sionaries. Those  missionaries,  it  may  further  be 
added,  are  nearly  one-fourth  of  all  the  ordained 
ministers  on  our  Presbyterial  rolls — 1641  of  the 
whole  ministerial  force  in  non-self-supporting 
churches  and  aided  by  the  Church  at  large.  Of 
the  7496  churches  on  the  roll,  3414  have  been 
organized  since  1870  by  Home  missionaries.  And 
of  922,904  communicants  this  year  reported  in 
the  whole  Church,  118,588,  or  more  than  one- 
ninth,  are  in  the  churches  now  under  the  care 
of  the  Board.  It  is  interesting  to  note,  further, 
that  the  missionaries  in  the  service  last  year  were 
distributed  as  follows  among  the  States  and  Ter- 
ritories : 


Alabama 4 

Alaska 8 

Arizona 13 

Arkansas 1 

California 85 


Colorado 70 

Connecticut 2 

Delaware 4 

Florida 18 

Idaho 24 


NUMERICAL  INCREASE. 


109 


Illinois 92 

Indiana 90 

Indian  Territory     ....  35 

Iowa 106 

Kansas 109 

Kentucky      23 

Maine 3 

Maryland 7 

Massachusetts 10 

Michigan 92 

Minnesota 96 

Missouri 60 

Montana 21 

Nebraska 87 

Nevada 2 

New  Hampshire 3 

New  Mexico 38 


New  York 139 

North  Carolina 3 

North  Dakota 51 

Ohio 43 

Oklahoma  Territory    ...  18 

Oregon 45 

Pennsylvania 28 

Rhode  Island 4 

South  Dakota 71 

Tennessee 29 

Texas 26 

Utah 23 

Vermont .  1 

Washington 66 

West  Virginia 3 

Wisconsin 72 

Wyoming 6 


The  Home  Board  has  also  a  special  work  among 
the  Alaskans,  Indians,  Mexicans,  Mormons,  Moun- 
taineers of  the  South,  employing  therein  319 
teachers  in  114  schools  with  9466  scholars. 


Missions  for  Freedmen. 

Not  the  least  important — in  some  respects  the 
most  pressing — work  in  the  home  field  is  that 
among  the  freedmen.  Last  year  the  175  ministers 
and  257  teachers  under  the  Assembly's  Freed- 
men's  Board  labored  in  306  churches  and  mis- 
sions, in  which  were  17,083  communicants,  of 
whom  1683  on  examination  and  356  on  certificate 


110  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

were  added  last  year,  and  19,764  Sabbath-school 
scholars.  There  were  also  87  day-schools  under 
the  care  of  the  Board,  with  257  teachers  and 
10,529  pupils.  Two  Synods  and  ten  Presbyte- 
ries are  composed  almost  wholly  of  these  colored 
constituents  of  the  Church. 

Foreign  Missions. 

The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  has  under  its 
care  25  missions  in  Africa,  China,  Guatemala,  In- 
dia, Japan,  Korea,  Mexico,  Persia,  Siam,  South 
America,  Syria,  and  among  the  Japanese  and 
Chinese  in  the  United  States ;  the  first  of  which, 
that  of  Syria,  was  begun  in  1823.  In  those  mis- 
sions are  116  stations  and  583  out-stations,  with  391 
organized  churches.  In  them  are  laboring  213 
American  ordained  ministers,  56  physicians  (37 
male  and  19  female),  and  390  lay  teachers — 659 
in  all — and  188  ordained  natives,  230  native  licen- 
tiates, 1525  native  teachers  and  helpers — 1943  na- 
tives in  all.  There  are  32,104  communicants  in 
the  churches,  of  whom  3772  were  added  last  year, 
and  who  contributed  last  year  ^65,828.  There  are 
109  students  for  the  ministry  among  them.  In 
their  day-  and  boarding-schools  are  30,452  pupils. 
There  are  33  hospitals  and  dispensaries  in  the 
missions.  That  is  the  present  foreign  w^ork  of 
the  one  Assembly. 


NUMERICAL  INCREASE,  111 

Missionary  Communicants. 
It  is  further  very  expressive  of  the  prominent 
numerical  place  which  the  missionary  work  holds 
in  the  Church  that  more  than  one-fourth  of  the 
additions  on  profession  to  the  communion  rolls 
of  the  whole  (National)  Church  last  year  (67,938) 
were  to  its  mission  congregations — thus : 

Home  Mission 12.763 

Freedmen 1,683 

Foreign  Mission 3,772 

Total 18,218 

And  of  the  922,904  on  the  present  list  of  commu- 
nicants, more  than  one-sixth  are  in  those  mission 
congregations — thus : 

Home  Mission 118,588 

Freedmen 17,083 

Foreign  Mission 32,104 

167,775 

Still  further,  the  net  increase  of  the  communion 
rolls  by  additions  on  profession  was  larger  last 
year  in  all  these  fields  of  mission  work  than  in  the 
Church  at  large.  In  the  whole  Church  it  was 
over  one-thirteenth  ;  among  the  Freedmen  it  was 
more  than  one-tenth ;  in  the  Home  Mission  con- 
gregations, more  than  one-ninth ;  in  the  Foreign 
Mission  churches,  more  than  one-eighth.    The  con- 


112  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERTANISM. 

verting  work  of  the  Spirit  most  powerful  among 
the  heathen ! 

Women's  Societies. 

The  first  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
was  organized  in  1870 ;  the  amount  raised  the 
first  year  was  §7337.  The  Woman's  Executive 
Committee  of  Home  Missions  was  organized  in 
1878 ;  the  amount  raised  the  first  year  was  $5296. 
The  amounts  raised  by  all  the  women's  organiza- 
tions in  the  National  Church  last  year,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Boards,  was  §640,461 — almost  one- 
third  of  the  whole  receipts  for  Home  and  Foreign 
Missions  and  Freedmen. 

Congregational  Moneys. 

The  first  year  in  which  the  sums  raised  for  the 
various  congregational  purposes  were  reported 
was  (in  the  Old  School)  in  1851 ;  the  total  was 
§1,056,023.  The  same  columns  now  foot  up  in 
all  the  churches  §11,723,052.  The  Old  School 
membership  in  1851  was  210,306.  The  average 
was  therefore  a  little  over  §5  per  communicant ; 
last  year  it  was  §8.86. 

Additions. 

The  first  year  in  which  additions  to  the  com- 
munion rolls  on  profession  were  reported  was 


NUMERICAL  INCREASE.  113 

1820.  The  number  was  8021.  The  total  of 
communicants  was  72,096;  the  increase  by  pro- 
fession was,  therefore,  nearly  one-ninth.  Last 
year  the  additions  were  98,110,  with  full  rolls  of 
1,322,296,  an  increase  of  over  one-twelfth.  The 
total  population  in  1820  was  9,633,822 ;  one  in 
every  1200  of  that  population  was  that  year 
drawn  to  the  communion  roll ;  last  year,  one  in 
every  712. 

Infant  Baptisms. 

The  infant  baptisms  in  1820,  the  first  year  they 
were  reported,  were  8792 ;  last  year  (the  Cumber- 
land not  reported)  they  were  33,233.  In  1820 
they  were  one  to  8  communicants ;  last  year  one 
to  34.  In  1820,  one  in  1096  of  the  general  popula- 
tion were  baptized  in  the  Presbyterian  Church ; 
last  year,  one  in  2160.  Here  is  a  regretful  show- 
ing. 

Adult  Baptisms. 

The  adult  baptisms  in  1820  were  1611;  last 
year,  30,760.  That  means  that  in  1820  four-fifths 
of  the  additions  on  profession  were  of  the  bap- 
tized children  of  the  Church ;  last  year  over  two- 
thirds  were  from  the  baptized  children.  In  1820 
one-fifth  of  the  converts  were  from  the  world; 
last  year,  over  one-third. 

8 


114  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

Sabbath-schools. 

The  first  year  in  which  Sabbath-schools  were 
embraced  in  the  Statistical  Tables  was  (in  the  Old 
School)  1856 ;  in  the  Old  and  New  School  both,  in 
1865.  They  were  reported  276,355  in  the  schools, 
while  the  combined  communion  rolls  were  385,095. 
Last  year  there  were  in  the  schools  1,263,831,  with 
a  communicant  membership  in  the  churches  of 
1,322,296.  The  population  of  the  country  in  1865 
was  about  83,000,000  (in  1860,  31,433,321;  in 
1870,  38,558,371) :  one  in  every  116  of  the  popula- 
tion was  in  our  Sabbath-schools ;  now  one  in  55. 

Colleges  and  Seminaries. 

In  1788  there  were  two  colleges  and  no  theo- 
logical seminary  in  connection  with  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  Now  there  are  19  theological  sem- 
inaries. As  to  colleges,  it  is  difficult  to  give  exact 
figures.  We  think  we  can  count  up  78  collegiate 
institutions — male,  female,  or  both — which  are 
directly  controlled  by  Presbyterians. 

The  Statistical  Tables. 

The  Statistical  Tables  from  which  the  foregoing 
figures  have  been  gleaned  are  themselves  a  study 
in  our  ecclesiastical  development.  At  first,  in 
1788,  all  that  they  contain  are  ministers,  licen- 


NUMERICAL  INCREASE.  115 

tiates,  vacant  churches,  and  collections,  the  last 
named  then  amounting  in  the  whole  Church  to 
£176  7s.  lOd.  Twenty  years  passed  before  the 
number  of  communicants  was  recorded.  Thirteen 
years  afterward  additions  on  examination,  infant 
baptisms,  and  adult  baptisms  appear.  The  money 
columns  gradually  divided,  one  after  another  the 
different  Boards  being  created — the  last,  that  of 
Aid  for  Colleges.  The  different  Boards  came  into 
existence  in  the  following  order  and  years :  Home 
Missions,  1816;  Education,  1819;  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, 1837 ;  Publication,  1838  ;  Church  Erection, 
1844 ;  Ministerial  Eelief,  1855 ;  Freedmen,  1865 ; 
Sabbath-school  Work  (of  Publication),  1872 ;  Aid 
for  Colleges,  1883.  Not  until  1851  were  the  con- 
gregational moneys  reported.  It  was  only  in 
1856  that  the  record  of  Sabbath-schools  began  to 
be  made. 

The  Century's  Additions  and  Contributions. 

Let  it  be  added  here  that  the  additions  to  the 
churches  on  profession  of  faith  since  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  General  Assembly  have  been  almost 
two  millions  (1,979,451),  of  which  over  eleven 
hundred  thousand  have  been  since  1870 ;  and 
the  benevolent  contributions  reported  amount  to 
ninety-nine  millions  of  dollars,  of  which  eighty 
millions  have  been  since  1870.     These  figures  do 


116  AMERICAN  PRESBYTEBIANISM. 

not  include  the  Southern  and  Cumberland  re- 
ports :  we  cannot  put  our  hand  upon  them.  If  they 
were  included,  as  they  should  be  for  full  national 
statements,  they  would  present  a  total  that  would 
be  astonishing  to  Presbyterians  generally.  The 
figures  of  the  Southern  Church  would  add  not  less 
than  six  million  dollars  to  the  amount  since  1870, 
and  make  the  total  since  1788  at  least  one  hundred 
and  five  millions,  and  more  than  two  hundred 
thousand  to  the  receptions  on  profession  of  faith. 

Decrease  of  Contributions. 

Here,  however,  candor  must  admit  there  is  a  fly 
in  the  ointment.  Of  recent  years  there  has  been 
no  such  advance  in  the  money  columns  as  could 
properly  have  been  looked  for.  There  has  even 
been  a  decrease.  Last  year,  as  compared  with 
1890,  shows  an  absolute  falling  off  in  the  contri- 
butions of  $720,552  ;  in  the  benevolent  columns, 
of  $649,071,  and  in  the  congregational  and  Gen- 
eral Assembly  columns,  of  $71,481,  though  the  com- 
municant membership  has  grown  from  775,903  to 
922,904 — an  increase  of  nearly  one-fourth.  Cast- 
ing the  eye  back  to  the  era  of  the  reunion,  while 
the  view  is  not  so  unfavorable,  it  is  still  not  as 
bright  as  the  preceding  periods.  The  total  money 
columns  in  1871  were  9,622,030;  the  communi- 
cants were  then  455,378;  they  are  now  922,904. 


NUMERICAL  INCREASE.  117 

Without  any  development  in  the  grace  of  liber- 
ality the  same  proportionate  giving  simply  would 
have  raised  the  columns  last  year  to  at  least 
$19,000,000,  whereas  they  are  only  $13,647,579. 
If  it  be  said  that  the  reunion  memorial  offerings 
had  begun  to  be  reported  in  1871,  the  year  before 
446,561  communicants  contributed  $8,440,121 ;  an 
equal  per  capita  would  have  made  the  amount 
this  year  more  than  $17,000,000.  It  points  this 
the  more  to  note  that  while  in  the  National 
Church  the  total  contributions  fell  from 
$14,368,131  in  1890  to  $13,647,579  in  1895,  in 
the  Southern  Church  they  rose  from  $1,727,263  in 
1890  to  $1,880,126  in  1895,  and  in  1893,  before 
the  present  financial  depression  was  felt,  were 
$1,943,580. 


VI. 

LESSONS  FROM  THE  COMPARISONS. 

The  foregoing  figures,  the  more  carefully  they 
are  examined,  the  greater  the  impression  they 
make.  We  indicate  briefly  some  of  the  leading 
lessons  they  suggest: 

Moral  and  Social  Development. 

1.  There  is  one  important  element  in  our  Na- 
tional Church  life  on  which  they  do  not  directly 
throw  light,  though  a  great  deal  may  be  reflected 
from  them :  the  moral  and  social  development  of 
the  members  of  the  Church  and  their  moral  and 
social  influence  on  the  nation  at  large.  But  from 
a  somewhat  careful  reading  of  the  life  of  a  hun- 
dred years  ago  and  since  down  to  the  present,  we 
do  not  hesitate  to  express  the  opinion  that  the 
type  of  piety  and  morality  has  constantly  been 
advancing  in  the  Church,  and  that  it  is  to-day 
far  higher  than  it  was  a  century  ago.  The  piety 
is  doubtless  more  active  and  practical  than  pas- 
sive and  contemplative.  It  may  not  be  so  spir- 
itual: it  is  of  a  higher  moral  tone  in  general. 
Practices  were  permitted  a  hundred  years  ago  that 
would  not  be  tolerated  now.    All  along  the  cen- 

118 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  COMPARISONS.        119 

tury  there  has  been  elevation  in  individual  and 
public  life.  As  far  as  the  Deliverances  of  the  ju- 
dicatories on  moral  and  social  questions  are  con- 
cerned, this  is  especially  true  ;  and  these  are  both 
the  indication  of  the  beliefs  of  the  Church  and 
educational  of  them.  We  claim  that  on  no  ques- 
tion that  has  arisen  are  we  under  the  necessity  of 
covering  up  the  nakedness  of  our  ecclesiastical 
ancestors  with  backward  steps.  As  one  instance 
of  this,  the  Deliverances  of  the  Assemblies  from 
the  beginning  on  the  subject  of  Temperance  may 
be  specially  referred  to.  Miss  Willard  was  re- 
ported some  time  ago  as  saying  that  on  this  reform 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  though  slow  in  moving, 
was  sure  and  mighty  and  effectual  when  she  did 
move.  The  latter  part  of  the  statement  is  true; 
the  first  is  not  correct.  Our  Church  has  not  been 
slow  in  taking  her  stand.  She  has  been  in  the 
van  of  the  whole  Temperance  movement.  She 
has  led,  not  been  led.  And  she  has  done  as  much 
as  any  other  organization  to  form  that  public  sen- 
timent which  is  now  condensed  into  the  expres- 
sion that  total  abstinence  from  all  intoxicants  is 
the  duty  of  the  individual — prohibition  of  the 
trafiic  in  them  the  duty  of  the  State. 

Educational. 
2.  Neither  do  the  figures  concerning  theological 


120  AMERICAN  PRE8BYTERIANISM. 

seminaries  and  colleges  suggest  all  that  is  true  of 
the  educational  and  intellectual  position  of  our 
Church.  In  its  early  history  nearly  every  pastor 
was  a  day  teacher  as  well ;  his  home  was  a  school. 
Insisting  upon  a  learned  ministry,  the  Church  has 
constantly  been  educating  and  elevating  her  peo- 
ple. The  schools  of  all  grades  that  are  under  her 
influence  cannot  be  tabulated.  Through  her  gen- 
eral educational  and  ministerial  work  she  has 
held  all  along,  she  holds  to-day,  a  greater  proportion 
of  the  solid  educational  people  of  the  land  than 
any  other  organization.  Beyond  controversy,  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  in  the  intellectual  power  of 
her  ministry,  in  the  influence  of  the  educators  and 
institutions  that  are  managed  by  her  ministers 
and  members,  in  the  general  intelligence  of  her 
adherents,  and  now  in  the  kind  of  work  she  is 
doing  through  her  Sabbath-schools,  stands  easily 
in  the  van  of  the  denominations. 

Active  and  Benevolent  Work. 

3.  It  is  when  we  approach  the  active  and  be- 
nevolent work  that  the  figures  speak  with  the 
most  telling  effect.  The  advance  of  the  Church 
on  herself  has  been  marvellous:  in  comparison 
with  others  it  is  equally  suggestive.  The  simple 
fact  is,  that,  absolutely  and  relatively,  Presbyte- 
rians stand  far  in  advance  of  any  other  denomi- 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  COMPARISONS       121 

nation.  They  raise  more  than  any  other.  About 
half  of  all  the  moneys  raised  by  all  the  churches 
of  the  land  for  benevolent  work  is  raised  by  them. 
They  do  not  yet  give  one-tenth  of  their  income 
to  the  Lord,  but  they  give  to  benevolent  objects 
more  than  one-third  of  the  amount  that  they  raise 
for  their  own  congregational  purposes,  which  may 
be  regarded,  in  a  pure  sense  of  the  word,  as  selfish 
purposes.  This  suggests  either  that  the  grace  of 
liberality  has  been  under  our  system  exceptionally 
developed,  or  that  our  churches  have  a  solid  and 
wealthy  membership.  We  believe  both  to  be  the 
case.  The  Boards  and  Committees  as  they  have 
grown  up,  and  as  they  have  been  managed,  and 
especially  the  training  in  systematic  beneficence 
which  is  now  a  part  of  the  system,  have  evoked  a 
liberality  which  is  exceptional  among  the  churches. 
It  is  not  yet  what  it  ought  to  be :  it  is  reaching  on. 

Relative  Numerical  Growth. 

4.  Numerically,  the  Presbyterian  development 
has  been  in  advance  of  all  other  denominations 
except  two.  It  stands  third  in  the  census  tables 
for  the  whole  country  for  1890. 

Again,  We  make  no  comparison  with  Eoman 
Catholics.  They  claim  6,257,871 "  communicants." 
But  this  includes  all  the  population  above  nine 
years  of  age  which  the  priests  can  in  any  way 


122  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

identify  with  their  Church  ;  and  it  is  not  a  tabu- 
lation from  precise  lists,  but  is  made  up  of  esti- 
mates and  guesses.  The  Presbyterian  population 
is  larger  than  the  Papal.  In  the  numbers  of  con- 
gregations and  of  church  buildings  and  their 
seating  capacity  the  census  shows  the  latter  to  be 
behind.  And  the  growth  which  it  has  had  has 
been  almost  wholly  from  immigration,  much  of 
which  it  has  also  heavily  lost. 

Two  Sister  Denominations. 

5.  In  this  respect,  however,  it  has  been  admitted 
that  there  are  two  denominations,  the  Baptist  and 
the  Methodist,  that  have  greatly  outstripped  the 
Presbyterian.  The  Baptists  started  in  the  coun- 
try as  soon  as  the  Presbyterians,  but  the  Meth- 
odists were  behind  both.  In  1890,  however, 
the  Baptists  of  all  branches  numbered  3,712,468 
communicants;  the  Methodists,  4,589,284;  while 
the  Presbyterians  and  Reformed  of  all  branches 
were  1,587,190. 

The  Baptists. 

A  careful  examination  of  the  census  reports 
will,  however,  make  some  revelations  concerning 
these  figures  which  will  be  a  surprise  to  many. 

There  are  thirteen  branches  of  Baptists.  Of 
these,  the  Regular  Baptists  South,  who  are  found 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  COMPARISONS.        123 

only  in  the  Southern  States  and  Territories  (ex- 
cept 273  in  Kansas),  number  1,280,056  communi- 
cants ;  the  Regular  Baptists,  colored,  also  confined 
wholly  to  the  Southern  States,  are  1,348,939.  The 
following  are  also  wholly  or  almost  wholly  in  the 
South:  The  Original  Free-will,  11,864;  the  Gen- 
eral, 21,362;  the  United,  13,209;  the  Baptist 
Church  of  Christ,  8254 ;  the  Primitive,  116,271 ; 
the  Old  Two-seed-in-the-Spirit  Predestinarian, 
12,881.  The  Regular  Baptists,  North,  who  are 
restricted  to  the  North,  have  800,025 ;  and  the  fol- 
lowing are  divided  between  the  North  and  the 
South:  the  Six-Principle  Baptists,  937;  the 
Seventh-Day  Baptists,  9143;  the  Free-will  Bap- 
tists, 87,898;  the  Separate  Baptists,  1599. 

Over  2,800,000  of  the  Baptists  of  all  the 
branches  are  in  the  South ;  less  than  900,000  are 
in  the  Northern  States ;  so  that  in  the  North  they 
are  numerically  weaker  than  the  Presbyterians. 
The  immense  preponderance  of  their  strength  is 
in  the  South,  and  there  their  colored  congrega- 
tions largely  outnumber  all  others. 

The  Methodists. 

Our  Methodist  brethren  exhibit  a  somewhat 
similar  state  of  things.  There  are  seventeen 
branches  of  them,  between  whom,  as  we  under- 
stand, no  ecclesiastical  fraternal  relations  exist. 


124  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANTSM. 

The  total  communicants  are  4,589,284,  divided  as 
follows:  Methodist  Episcopal  (North),  2,240,354; 
Union  American  Methodist  Episcopal  (colored), 
2279 ;  African  Methodist  Episcopal  (colored), 
452,725;  African  Union  Methodist  Protestant 
(colored),  3415 ;  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  (colored),  349,788;  Methodist  Protestant, 
141,989;  Wesleyan  Connexion  of  America, 
16,492;  Methodist  Episcopal,  South,  1,209,976; 
Congregational  Methodist,  8705;  Congregational 
Methodist  Colored,  319;  New  Congregational 
Methodist,  1059 ;  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal, 
129,383;  Zion  Union  Apostolic  (colored),  2346; 
Primitive  Methodist,  4764;  Free  Methodist, 
22,110;  Independent  Methodists,  2569;  Evangel- 
ical Missionary  Church,  951. 

Seven  of  these  organizations,  it  will  be  noticed,  are 
composed  exclusively  of  colored  members,  and  they 
number  nearly  a  million.  There  are  also  colored 
members  in  the  other  organizations :  in  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  North,  for  instance,  whole  conferences 
of  them  overlapping  the  white  conferences. 

Then  of  the  total  of  4,589,284  communicants, 
over  2,500,000  are  in  the  South,  leaving  a  little 
less  than  two  millions  in  all  the  branches  in  the 
North,  of  whom  about  1,750,000  are  in  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  North,  so  called.  We 
may  add    that    the    Northern  branch    is    also 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  COMPARISONS.        125 

strong  in  the  South,  having  almost  500,000  com- 
municants there.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Southern 
Church  has  in  the  Northern  States  a  considerable 
following,  amounting  to  nearly  26,000. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  Baptists  and  the 
Methodists  alike  have  the  preponderance  of  their 
numerical  strength  in  the  South,  and  that  the 
colored  people  North  and  South  are  very  largely 
in  their  communion.  The  Presbyterians  and 
Reformed,  however,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church  and  the  Cumber- 
land, have  their  preponderance  in  the  North,  and 
they  are  not  numerically  strong  among  the  colored 
people.  And  in  the  North  the  Presbyterians  and 
the  Reformed  are  stronger  than  the  Baptists :  the 
Methodists  are  not  so  much  more  numerous  as  is 
commonly  supposed  from  the  figures  en  bloc,  with- 
out an  analysis  of  them. 

Our  Methodist  and  Baptist  brethren,  let  it  be 
mentioned  to  their  credit,  have  had  their  tremen- 
dous success  among  the  poor.  They  have  gone 
ahead  of  Presbyterians  in  frontier  settlements,  in 
new  regions,  in  the  tenement-houses  and  alleys  of 
the  large  cities,  among  the  negroes  in  the  South 
and  the  North.  It  is,  we  repeat,  to  their  credit  that 
they  have  so  largely  reached  the  poor,  the  igno- 
rant, and  the  degraded.  But  we  should  not  let 
them  have  this  as  an  exclusive  honor,  for  Christi- 


126  AMERICAN  PRESS  YTEBIANISM. 

anity  should  reach  all  classes.  "  To  the  poor  the 
gospel  is  preached :"  we  must  preach  it  to  them  if 
we  want  the  best  of  all  seals  stamped  upon  our 
Church. 

Let  us  cultivate  our  wealth,  and  rejoice  in  our 
refinement,  and  make  much  of  our  education ;  but 
let  us  show  more  and  more  that  Presbyterianism 
is  not  a  class,  but  an  all-classes,  religion. 

And  why  have  we  not  in  this  respect  had  the 
numerical  success  that  has  rested  upon  our  Meth- 
odist and  Baptist  brethren  ? 

We  are  inclined  to  think  we  have  been  pushing 
to  an  extreme  our  favorite  doctrine  of  an  educated 
ministry ;  been  insisting  too  much  upon  the  same 
high  education  for  all  preachers ;  have  not  been 
willing  enough  to  use  graces  without  gifts  among 
the  masses ;  and  in  waiting  for  the  high  education 
have  let  many  of  the  population  get  beyond  us. 
We  are  sure  we  have  not  used  the  multiform  gifts 
of  our  eldership  in  the  profitable  way  in  which  we 
should  have  done.  We  would  emphasize  what,  since 
writing  the  foregoing,  we  have  noticed  Dr.  W.  H. 
Roberts  said  in  his  Pittsburg  Quarter-century 
Anniversary  address: 

"  There  must  be  concerted  effort  for  the  system- 
atic use  of  the  ministry  of  gifts  as  distinct  from 
the  ministry  of  office.  The  New  Testament  clearly 
teaches  that  the  possession  of  talents  by  disciples 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  COMPARISONS.        127 

of  Christ  implies,  necessarily,  not  official  relation 
to  the  Church,  but  the  use  of  such  talents  in  the 
Lord's  work  according  to  opportunity.  God  has 
blessed  many  ruling  elders  and  other  members  of 
the  laity,  both  men  and  women,  with  abilities  for 
service  in  various  lines  in  his  kingdom." 

Revivals  and  Culture. 

6.  A  careful  examination  from  decade  to  de- 
cade will  show  that  the  growth  of  the  Church  in 
membership  has  been  of  a  steady  and  solid  kind. 
This  is  due  largely  to  the  way  in  which  it  has 
cultivated  revivals.  It  has  shared  richly  in  the 
fruits  of  those  widespread  awakenings  which  at 
different  times  have  shaken  the  whole  country  or 
large  sections  of  it.  It  has  had  many  special  ones 
in  its  own  congregations.  Mention  of  powerful 
works  of  grace  is  frequently  found  in  its  annual 
Narratives  of  the  State  of  Religion.  But  a  sen- 
tence in  a  Pastoral  Letter  in  1816  expresses  the 
predominant  feeling  of  a  very  large  proportion  of 
the  body :  "  If  the  thunderstorm  in  summer  ex- 
cites the  most  attention,  it  is  the  continued  bless- 
ing from  the  clouds  which  replenishes  the  spring 
and  makes  glad  the  harvest  of  the  husbandman." 
The  General  Assembly  of  1817,  in  passing  a  quasi 
censure  on  this  utterance,  expressed  the  hope  that 
it  was  not  intended  as  a  condemnation  of  revivals. 


328  AMERICAN  PRESBYTEBIANISM, 

The  intention  was  probably  to  censure  some  re- 
vival measures.  But  it  will  be  found  that,  in  this 
solid,  and  substantial,  and  constantly  advancing 
portion  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  it  has  been  the 
happy  blending  of  revivals  and  awakenings  with 
the  weekly  and  ordinary  culture  of  the  field  that 
has  been  the  means  of  adding  to  the  reports  of 
conversions,  and  in  holding  on  to,  and  effectively 
training,  those  who  have  been  drawn  into  the 
ranks  of  communicants. 

Devotion  to  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty. 

7.  The  unflinching  and  unbroken  American 
position  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  been  an 
important  source  of  her  strength  and  growth  here. 
In  that  she  was  a  leader.  Her  ante-Revolution- 
ary and  official  position  places  her  first ;  for  as  far 
back  as  1729  the  General  Synod  which  passed 
what  is  called  the  Adopting  Act.  by  which  it  was 
agreed  "that  all  the  ministers  of  this  Synod,  or 
that  shall  hereafter  be  admitted  into  this  Synod, 
shall  declare  their  agreement  in  approbation  of 
the  Confession  of  Faith,  with  the  Larger  and 
Shorter  Catechisms  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines  at 
Westminster,"  and  "also  adopt  the  said  Confes- 
sion as  the  confession  of  our  faith" — the  first 
authoritative  settlement  of  the  Standards  of  the 
Church — "in  the  same  year  took  action  in  the 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  COMPARISONS.        129 

line  of  the  denial  of  the  authority  of  the  State 
over  the  Church.  Chapter  xxiii.  of  the  Westmin- 
ster Confession  of  Faith  deals  with  the  power  of 
the  civil  magistrate,  and  the  Synod  denied  to  the 
civil  magistrate  what  the  Westminster  Assembly 
permitted — a  controlling  power  over  Synods  with 
respect  to  '  the  exercise  of  their  ministerial  au- 
thority.' It  also  denied  to  the  civil  magistrate  the 
^  power  to  persecute  any  for  their  religion.'  These 
were  notable  acts  on  the  part  of  the  Synod,  ap- 
pearing to  be  the  first  declaration,  b}''  an  organized 
Church  on  American  soil,  of  the  freedom  of  the 
Church  from  control  by  the  State.  Even  in  New 
England  at  this  time  Church  and  State  were 
united.  Congregationalism,  as  first  established  in 
the  colonies,  was  a  chain  whose  links  were  steel. 
An  organization  of  so-called  independent  churches, 
its  ministers  were  held  to  orthodoxy  and  its  mem- 
bers to  right  living  by  the  strong  arm  of  the  civil 
law.  It  was  the  civil  magistrate  at  the  call  of  the 
Church  who  drove  out  from  Massachusetts,  Wil- 
liams the  Baptist  and  Doughty  the  Presbyte- 
rian. To  the  Presbyterian  rather  than  to  the 
Puritan  must  the  honor  be  given  of  the  first 
definite  statement,  by  an  organized  body  on 
American  soil,  of  what  to-day  is  recognized  as  the 
distinctively  American  and  true  doctrine  of  the 
right  relation  between  Church  and  State." 

9 


130  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERTANISM. 

Placing  herself  right  so  early  on  that  funda- 
mental question,  later  in  the  times  that  tried 
men's  souls  she  and  her  adherents  were  on  fire 
with  patriotism.  Her  Revolutionary  record  has 
not  the  slightest  smirch  upon  it.  Opponents 
themselves  being  judges,  she  stands  the  most  un- 
qualified advocate  of  the  political  principles  which 
permeate  the  American  nation.  None  of  her  min- 
isters deserted  our  country  in  Revolutionary  days ; 
none  of  them  prayed  or  fought  for  the  British 
cause.  They  were  all  active  patriots.  Their  ec- 
clesiastical constitution  contained  the  seed  of  the 
Federal.  And  their  record  in  maintenance  of 
civil  and  religious  freedom  is  untarnished.  "  In- 
dependents in  New  England  and  Episcopalians 
in  the  Middle  colonies  did  deny  to  others  the  free- 
dom they  claimed  for  themselves ;  Presbyterians, 
however,  whether  of  British,  Scotch,  Irish,  or  Con- 
tinental origin,  never  assailed  the  rights  of  their 
fellow-men.  Holding  strenuously  to  the  truth 
that  'God  alone  is  Lord  of  the  conscience,'  they 
protected  the  doctrine  they  professed.  And  none 
have  been  more  persistent  in  maintaining  true 
liberty  in  Church  and  in  State,  none  have  been 
more  thoroughly  Presbyterian  in  doctrine  and 
practice,  than  the  men  of  that  race  whose  tradi- 
tions cluster  about  the  siege  of  Londonderry  and 
the  conventicles  of  the  Covenanters.     To  them 


LESSONS  FROM  THE  COMPARISONS.        131 

American  Presbyterianism  is  largely  indebted  for 
its  vigor,  tenacity,  and  prosperity"  (Dr.  W.  H. 
Roberts's  Sketch  of  the  History  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  p.  7).  And  to  its  Presbyterianism  this 
nation  is  largely  indebted  for  the  securement  and 
preservation  of  its  civil  and  religious  freedom ; 
and  that  has  in  turn  given  Presbyterianism  a 
warm  place  in  the  affections  of  Americans. 

The  Divine  Message. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  the  design  of  the 
foregoing  statements  is  to  make  the  impression 
that  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  accomplished 
all  that  it  should  have  done,  or  reached  the  posi- 
tion that  it  should  occupy,  or  exhibited  the  faith- 
fulness that  should  characterize  it ;  or  to  cause  it 
to  indulge  in  boastfulness  or  self-glorification,  and 
in  depreciation  of  its  sister  churches.  God  forbid ! 
It  has  not  yet  reached  the  mark,  nor  does  it  look 
with  envious  or  jealous  eye  on  the  other  churches 
of  the  land.  It  bids  them  God-speed  in  the  one 
work  of  the  glorified  Redeemer.  They  and  it  all 
need  to  be  stimulated  to  increasing  efforts  against 
the  common  enemies  and  in  the  advancement  of 
the  one  kingdom.  And  one  way  in  which  to  ap- 
ply that  stimulus  is  to  award  due  credit  to  what 
has  been  done  and  to  magnify  the  divine  grace  in 
it.     Of  the  two,  optimism  is  more  effective  than 


132  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM. 

pessimism.  Truest  success  is  reached  through  the 
happy  mean  between  them.  And  as  we  have 
shown,  in  this  little  volume,  the  remarkable 
growth  with  which  God  has  blessed  Presbyterians 
in  the  whole  United  States — and,  more  concen- 
trated still,  in  Pennsylvania,  and  especially  in 
Philadelphia,  which  is  a  striking  microcosm  of 
both  State  and  nation,  and  of  what  both  are  to  be 
more  and  more  in  the  future — we  think  this  mes- 
sage has  a  pointed  and  special  application  to  the 
Church  in  them  all : 

"  These  things  saith  he  that  is  holy,  he  that  is 
true,  he  that  hath  the  key  of  David,  he  that  open- 
eth  and  no  man  shutteth;  and  shutteth  and  no 
man  openeth. 

"  I  know  thy  works.  Behold,  I  have  set  before 
thee  an  open  door,  and  no  man  can  shut  it ;  for 
thou  hast  a  little  strength,  and  hast  kept  my  word, 
and  hast  not  denied  my  name.  Behold,  I  will 
make  them  of  the  synagogue  of  Satan,  which  say 
they  are  Jews  and  are  not,  but  do  lie;  behold,  I 
will  make  them  to  come  and  worship  before  my 
feet  and  to  know  that  I  have  loved  thee.  Because 
thou  hast  kept  the  word  of  my  patience,  I  also  will 
keep  thee  from  the  hour  of  temptation,  which  shall 
come  upon  all  the  world,  to  try  them  that  dwell 
upon  the  earth.  Behold,  I  come  quickly.  Hold 
that  fast  which  thou  hast,  that  no  man  take  thy  crownr 


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